LITTLE  BOOKS  ON  ART 


FORTUNEE  DE  LISLE 


ill 


LITTLE  BOOKS  ON  ART 

GENERAL  EDITOR:  CYRIL  DAVENPORT 


BURNE-JONES 


BURNE-JONES 


BY 

FORTUNEE  DE  LISLE 


WITH    FOKTY-ONE  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 
DODGE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
23  EAST  20^'^  STREET 


i 


PREFACE 


IN  this  brief  study  of  the  life  and  work  of  Sir  Edward 
Burne-Joncs,  no  detailed  biography  has  been  attempted. 
That  will  shortly  be  forthcoming-  from  the  pen  of  one 
better  qualified  than  anyone  else  to  write  it.  This  little 
work  has  merely  been  undertaken  in  the  same  spirit  as  that 
in  which  W.  Morris  wrote  of  the  cathedrals  of  North 
France  :  I  thought  that  even  if  I  could  say  nothing  else 
about  these  grand  churches,  I  could  at  least  tell  men  how 
I  loved  them." 

To  the  many  owners  of  pictures  by  Sir  Edward  Burne- 
Jones,  to  whose  collections  the  writing  of  this  book  has 
been  the  "Open  Sesame," — to  the  authors  whose  works 
have  been  consulted,  and  to  whom  reference  is  made  in  the 
following-  pages, — to  Mrs.  William  Morris,  Mrs.  \V.  J. 
Hadley,  Mr.  R.  H.  Benson,  Mr.  Ch.  Fairfax  Murray, 
Messrs.  P.  and  D.  Colnaghi,  and  others,  for  their  courtesy 
in  allowing  the  use  of  their  valuable  copyrights, — and  for 
the  uniform  kindness  and  ready  assistance  which  have 
been  met  with  on  every  side, — the  writer  desires  to  express 
her  most  sincere  gratitude. 


November^  1904 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  YEARS 
1833-1853 

Contrast  between  the  art  of  Burne- Jones  and  the  spirit  of  his  time — 
English  art  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  —  The 
romantic  movement  —  The  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood  —  Burnc- 
Jones  —  His  early  years,  education,  and  entrance  into  Oxford 
University  .....  P^-g^ 


CHAPTER  II 

COLLEGE  DAYS 
1853-1850 

William  Morris — His  friendship  with  Burne-Jones — Their  college  life 
— The  monastic  ideal — The  Pembroke  group —Influence  of  Kuskin 
— National  events — Chaucer  and  Browning — Change  of  outlook  — 
"The  Brotherhood" — TJic  Germ — Influence  of  Rossctti's  art  and 
poetry — Journey  to  France — The  turning-point — "The  Maids  of 
Elfen-Mere  " — Burne-Jones's  first  meeting  with  Rossetti — He  leaves 
Oxford  and  settles  in  London  .  .  ... 


CHAPTER  III 

ROSSETTI  :   THE  NEW  LIFE 
1850-1857 

Work  in  London — Rossetti's  guidance — Morris  joins  Burne-Jones— 
Cartoons  for  stained  glass — Pen-and-ink  drawings — The  Red  Lion 
Square  furniture — The  Oxford  frescoes  .  .  .  . 

vii 


viii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  IV 

PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTI'S  INFLUENCE 
1857-1863 

Return  to  London— Influence  of  G.  F.  Watts— The  Hogarth  Club- 
Marriage  of  W.  Morris — First  visit  to  Italy — Pen-and-ink  work 
— *'  Sidonia"  and  "Clara  von  Bork" — Marriage — The  Red  House  " 
frescoes — The  Firm — Work  for  the  Firm — The  Bodley  Triptych 
— Early  water-colours — Connection  with  Dalziel — Second  visit  to 
Italy — Pictures  and  illustrations  for  Dalziel — More  water-colours — 
"  The  Merciful  Knight "    ....  page  44 

CHAPTER  V 

THE  SIXTIES 
1863-1870 

Election  to  Royal  Water-colour  Society — "Cupid's  Forge" — "  Green 
Summer" — "Astrologia" — "Chaucer's  Dream" — The  "St.  George 
and  the  Dragon  "  Series — ' '  Theophilus  and  the  Angel " — * '  The  Wine 
of  Circe"  —  "Love  disguised  as  Reason"  —  "Phyllis  and  De- 
mophoon" — Resignation  from  R.W.S. — Removal  of  the  Firm  to 
Queen  Square  —  Cartoons  for  the  Firm  —  Illustrations  for  The 
Earthly  Paradise  —  The  "Cupid  and  Psyche"  Frieze — Mr.  S. 
Colvin's  article  on  Burne-Jones  in  The  Portfolio^  1870.  .       .  73 

CHAPTER  VI 

FAME 
1870-1878 

Move  to  "The  Grange" — Mode  of  life — Silent  period — "Love  among 
the  Ruins"  and  "The  Hesperides" — Opening  of  the  Grosvenor 
Gallery—"  The  Mirror  of  Venus"—"  The  Beguiling  of  Merlin  "— 
"  The  Days  of  Creation  "— "  Fides  "— "  Spes  "— "  Caritas  "— "  Tem- 
perantia" — "The  Seasons" — "Day"  and  "Night" — "Luna" — 
"Perseus  and  the  Graiae  " — " Laus  Veneris" — "Le  Chant  d' Amour" 
— "  Pan  and  Psyche  " — Other  works  of  this  period — Cartoons — "The 
Masque  of  Cupid  " — Subjects  from  The  Romaunt  of  the  Rose — 
Illustrations  for  The  /Eneid  and  The  Story  of  Orpheus — The 
Graham  Piano  .  .  .  ...  94 


CONTENTS 


ix 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  EIGHTIES 
1878-1890 

"Pygmalion  and  the  Image  The  Annunciation  The  Golden 
Stairs"— "Dies  Domini"— "The  Mill"— "The  Feast  of  Peleus  " 
—Other  subjects  from  The  Tale  of  Troj^—"  The  Wheel  of  For- 
tune "—"  The  Hours"— "King  Cophetua  and  the  Beggar-Maid" 
—Election  to  Associateship  of  Royal  Academy— "  The  Depths  of 
the  Sea"— "Flamma  Vestalis  "  —  "  Sibylla  Delphica "  — "  The 
Morning  of  the  Resurrection  "— "  The  Garden  of  Pan  "—Opening 
of  the  New  Gallery— Pictures  for  St.  John's,  Torquay— "  The 
Bath  of  Venus"— The  "Perseus"  Series— "  The  Tower  of  Brass" 
—"  The  Briar  Rose "       ....  />a^e  117 

CHAPTER  VIII 

LATER  WORKS 

1890-1898 

"The  Star  of  Bethlehem  "—The  Exeter  College  tapestry— "  Sponsa 
de  Libano"  — New  Gallery  Exhibition,  1892-3  —  Mosaics  for 
American  church  in  Rome— "  Vespertina  Quies  "— The  Slanmore 
tapestries— "  The  Dream  of  Launcelot  "—"Aurora  "—The  Kelm- 
scott  C/iaucer—'Dea.th  of  Morris— "  Arthur  in  Avalon  "—"  Love's 
Wayfaring  "—Decorative  works,  portraits,  and  cartoons,  from  1878  142 

CHAPTER  IX 

CONCLUSION 

Summary— Honours  conferred  upon  Burne-Jones— Exhibitions  of  his 
works— His  method  of  work— Some  features  of  his  art  — His 
character  .  .  .  .  ...  162 


X 


CONTENTS 


A  CHRONOLOGICAL  LIST  OF  WORKS 

BY  SIR  EDWARD  BURNE-JONES 

1.  Pictures  ^    ^^S'  ^79 

11.  Pen-and-ink  drawings,  pencil  drawings,  designs  for  illustra- 

187 

Hons,  etc.  ' 

III.  Mural  paintings,  paintings  on  furniture,  etc. ;  designs  for  tiles, 

needlework,  metalwork,  mosaic,  tapestry,  etc.     .  .       .  191 

IV.  Works  in  gesso  .  •  •  ..-194 
V.  Principal  cartoons  for  stained  glass  .  •  •       •  ^95 

IQ7 

PRINCIPAL  SALES  •  •  •  .  •  y/ 

BIBLIOGRAPHY    •  •  •  ...  198 

INDEX      .  •  •  •  •  ...  203 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


KING  COPHETUA  AND  THE  BEGGAR-MAID     .  Frontispiect 
By  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  P.  and  D.  Colnaghi  and  Co. 


*THE  MAIDS  OF  ELFEN-MERE      .  ... 
(Illustration  by  Rossetti  to  Allingham's  Day  and  Night  Sonos.) 

*THE  prioress's  TALE  (PAINTED  CABINET) 
By  kind  permission  of  Mrs.  William  Morris. 

*CLERK  SAUNDERS 

By  kind  permission  of  Mrs.  W.  J.  Hadley. 

MERLIN  AND  NIMUE  . 

THE  MERCIFUL  KNIGHT 

GREEN  SUMMER 

*CHAUCER's  DREAM 

By  kind  permission  of  Ch.  Fairfax  Murray,  Esq.     (From  a 
photograpli  by  the  Autotype  Company.) 

THE  WINE  OF  CIRCE  . 

LOVE  AMONG  THE  RUINS 

*THE  HESPERIDES 

(From  a  photograph  by  Messrs.  J.  Caswall  Sinit 

THE  BEGUILING  OF  MERLIN 

THE  DAYS  OF  CREATION 

CARITAS 

*LAUS  VENERIS 

By  kind  permission  of  the  Berlin  Photographic  Company 

xi 


I'AGE 
22 


40 

5« 

59 
71 
74 
75 

79 
96 
98 

lOI 

103 
104 
108 


xii        LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

LE  CHANT  d'aMOUR    .  .  ...  IO9 

PAN  AND  PSYCHE         .  .  .  .  .  IIO 

LOVE  AND  BEAUTY      .  .  .  .         .  II5 

LOVE  LEADING  THE  PILGRIM     .  .  .         .  II6 

THE  GODHEAD  FIRES  .  .  .         .  II8 

(From  the  Pygmalion  and  the  Image  series.) 

DIES  DOMINI  .  .  ...  123 

THE  WHEEL  OF  FORTUNE  .  .  .         .  125 

WOOD-NYMPH  .  .  .  .         .  127 

*THE  DEPTHS  OF  THE  SEA  .  ...  I28 

By  kind  permission  of  R.  H.  Benson,  Esq.   (From  a  photograph 
by  Messrs.  H.  Dixon  and  Son.) 

PERSEUS  AND  THE  GRAI^  .  ...  I30 

PERSEUS  AND  THE  NEREIDS       .  .  .         .  I3I 

THE  ROCK  OF  DOOM  .  ...  132 

THE  DOOM  FULFILLED  .  .  .         .  I33 

THE  BALEFUL  HEAD  .  .  ...  I34 

THE  GARDEN  COURT  .  .  ...  I39 

(Study  for  the  third  subject  of  the  Briar  Rose  series.) 

THE  STAR  OF  BETHLEHEM  (FRAGMENT)  .  .  .  I43 

By  kind  permission  of  the  Corporation  of  Birmingham. 

^THE  ADORATION  OF  THE  MAGI  (TAPESTRY)         .         .  I44 
By  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Morris  and  Co. 

sponsa  de  libano    .  .  .         .      .  i45 

vespertina  quies    .  .  ...  147 

AURORA        .  .  .  ...  149 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xiii 

PAGE 

STUDY  OF  A  HEAD         .  .  .  .1^2 

PHILIP  COMYNS  CARR  .  .  •         •  ^55 

THORFINN     KARLSEFNE,     GUDRIDA,     AND    LEIF  THE 
LUCKY     .  .  .  •  •  • 

(Cartoons  for  the  Norse  window  at  Newport.) 

THE  NATIVITY  .  .  .  .  .  I58 

(Cartoon  for  window  of  St.  Philip's,  Birmingham.) 

THE  CRUCIFIXION  .  .  .  .         .  158 

(Cartoon  for  window  of  St.  Philip's,  Birmingham.) 

STUDY  OF  HANDS  AND  DRAPERY  .  .  169 

Note.  —  With  the  exception  0/ those  marked  ivith  an  asterisk^  the  illustra- 
tions are  front  photographs  by  Frederick  Ilollyer^  g,  Pt  mbroke 
Square^  W. 


No  sweeter,  no  kindlier,  no  fairer, 

No  lovelier  a  soul  from  its  birth 
Wore  ever  a  brighter  and  rarer 

Life's  raiment  for  life  upon  earth 
Than  his  who  enkindled  and  cherished 

Art's  vestal  and  luminous  flame, 
That  dies  not  when  kingdoms  have  perished 

In  storm  or  in  shame." 

A.  C.  Swinburne 


BURNE-JONES 


CHAPTER  I 


EARLY  YEARS 


1833-18.33 


Contrast  between  the  art  of  Burne-Jones  and  the  spirit  of  his 
time — English  art  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century 
— The  romantic  movement — The  Pre-Raphaelite  Brother- 
hood— Burne-Jones — His  early  years,  education,  and  en- 
trance into  Oxford  University. 


HE  eminent  French  critic,  M.  de  la  Sizeranne, 


J-  recalling-  the  impression  produced  upon  him 
by  the  English  pictures  at  the  Universal  Exhibi- 
tion held  in  Paris  in  1889,  wrote  the  following- 
words  :  As  we  came  out  of  the  Gallery  of 
Machinery,  .  .  .  we  found  ourselves  in  the  silent 
and  beautiful  English  Art  Section,  and  we  felt  as 
though  everywhere  else  in  the  Exhibition  we  had 
seen  nothing  but  matter,  and  here  we  had  come 
on  the  exhibition  of  the  soul."  Referring  to  one 
picture  in  particular — Burne-Jones's  King  Coph- 
etua  and  the  Beggar-Maid" — he  continued:  It 
seemed  as  though  we  had  come  forth  from  the 
Universal  Exhibition  of  Wealth  to  see  the  sym- 
bolical expression  of  the  Scorn  of  Wealth.  All 


B 


2 


BUKNE-JONES 


round  this  room  were  others,  where  emblems  and 
signs  of  strength  and  luxury  were  collected  from 
all  the  nations  of  the  world — pyramids,  silvered 
or  gilt,  representing  the  amount  of  precious  metal 
dug  year  by  year  out  of  the  earth  ;  palaces  and 
booths  containing  the  most  sumptuous  products 
of  the  remotest  isles — and  here  behold  a  king 
laying  his  crown  at  the  feet  of  a  beggar-maid  for 
her  beauty's  sake !  There  might  be  seen  the 
most  highly  wrought  instruments  of  war :  cannons, 
models  of  armour-plated  ships,  and  torpedoes; 
and  here  was  a  knight  duly  clad  in  iron,  bowing 
in  his  strength  before  weakness  for  its  innocence' 
sake.  It  was  a  dream — but  a  noble  dream — and 
every  young  man  who  passed  that  way,  even 
though  resolved  never  to  sacrifice  strength  to 
right,  or  riches  to  beauty,  was  glad,  nevertheless, 
that  an  artist  should  have  depicted  the  Apotheosis 
of  Poverty.  It  was  the  revenge  of  art  on  life. 
And  they  could  but  wonder,  '  Who  is  this  man 
who  dares  even  now  to  paint  the  ideal  of  poverty, 
when  we  all  aim  at  the  reality  of  comfort  ?  Who 
is  the  artist  whose  anachronism  inculcates  repose 
in  the  midst  of  railways,  and  that  in  a  style 
worthy  of  Mantegna,  in  the  midst  of  styles  d  la 
Carolus  Duran  ?  Who  is  this  thinker  so  scornful 
of  prejudice,  so  indifferent  to  all  that  is  not  in- 
spired from  on  high.  .  .  ?  '  "  ^ 

The  contrast  here  so  strongly  drawn  between 
the  spiritual  atmosphere  of  Burne-Jones's  picture 
and  its  material  surroundings,  is  typical  of  the 

^  The  Magazine  of  Art,  1898.  "In  Memoriam,  Sir 
Edward  Burne-Jones,"  by  R.  de  la  Sizeranne. 


EARLY  YEARS  3 

life  and  character  of  the  artist  in  relation  to  the 
age  in  which  he  lived.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
he  was  **a  thirteenth-century  soul  strayed  by 
accident  into  the  nineteenth  "  ;  he  was  a  poet,  an 
idealist,  a  dreamer,  a  Celt  of  the  Celts,  to  whom 
the  material  surroundings  of  his  daily  life  were 
less  real  than  the  beautiful  visions  which  haunted 
his  imagination;  and  this  ^'Painter  of  Other- 
worldliness,"  as  he  has  been  called,  was  born  in 
a  materialistic  age  of  mammon-worship,  in  which 
the  insatiate  grasp  of  commerce  was  upon  every- 
thing, and  the  spirit  of  awe  and  of  wonder  had 
almost  been  driven  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
He  was  to  be  the  painter  of  the  Golden  Age  of 
the  world,  and  his  childhood  was  spent  in  the 
Black  Country,  in  a  middle-class  home  in  the 
Birmingham  of  the  early  thirties, — a  very  different 
place  from  the  Birmingham  of  to-day,  with  her 
half- million  and  more  of  inhabitants,  her  fine 
public  buildings,  her  splendid  museum  and  art 
school,  and  her  noble  reputation  for  the  en- 
couragement of  all  the  arts.  That  the  dawn  of 
a  new  epoch  was  even  then  beginning  to  break 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Grammar  School  had  been  entrusted  to  Sir  Charles 
Barry,  the  architect  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament ; 
yet  there  was  but  little  to  lift  the  soul  from  its 
workaday  surroundings  in  those  crowded  streets 
of  mean  and  meagre  aspect,  wherein  the  keen 
struggle  for  existence  reduced  life  to  a  hideous 
nightmare. 

The  fact  that  art  had  little  place  in  the  life  of 
Birmingham  was  but  an  instance  of  the  general 


4  BURNE-JONES 

contempt  and  indifference  in  which  it  was  held 
throughout  England  at  that  period.    The  great 
days  of  Reynolds  and  Gainsborough  were  over  ; 
Turner  and  Constable  still  shed  the  splendour  of 
their  genius  upon  the  school  of  landscape-paint- 
ing, but  their  sun  was  soon  to  set.    As  to  the 
painters    of  figure   subjects,   the  aim   of  their 
pictures  was  rather  to  amuse  or  to  instruct  than 
to  appeal  to  those  perceptions  and  feelings  which 
lie  beyond  thought,   and  which  art  alone  can 
reach.    Pseudo  -  classicism,  feeble  imitation  and 
conventionality,  had  usurped  the  place  of  direct 
observation  from  nature  and  personal  interpreta- 
tion, and  so  long  as  the  traditions  and  rules 
which  had  been  evolved  from  the  works  of  the 
great  painters  of  bygone  days  were  adhered  to, 
nothing  else  was  demanded.  Art  as  an  expression 
of  the  national  spirit  did  not  exist,  nor  was  the 
term  supposed  to  apply  to  anything  but  pictures, 
the  luxury  of  the  rich.  Art,  **the  spiritual  element 
in  the  works  of  men's  hands,"  which,  as  ^*the 
constant  condition  of  good  quality  in  all  things 
rightly  made,"  should  have  had  the  most  intimate 
connection  with  the  life  of  the  nation,  was  put 
aside  as  of  no  vital  importance. 

Yet  it  was  at  the  very  moment  when  the 
prospect  of  a  truly  national  art  arising  in  England 
seemed  most  unlikely,  that  the  great  romantic 
movement  —  that  Renascence  of  the  Spirit  of 
Wonder  in  Poetry  and  Art,"  which  was  the 
natural  reaction  from  an  age  of  rationalism  and 
materialism  —  came  sweeping  over  the  country, 
and,  after  awakening  poetry  and  literature  into 


EARLY  YEARS  5 

new  life,  began  to  express  itself  in  the  works  of 
Ford  Madox  Brown,  G.  F.  Watts,  and  of  that 
small  group  of  greatly  gifted  men,  who,  calling 
themselves  —  in  a  paradoxical  spirit  —  the  Pre- 
Raphaelite  Brotherhood,  clustered  round  D.  G. 
Rossetti.    Then  the  old  formulas  in  art,  as  in 
other  things,  were  cleared  away,  and  men  were 
brought  again  into  direct  communion  with  nature  ; 
then     the  solemn  human  soul  "  awoke  once  more 
to  that  consciousness  of  a  mystery  beyond  **the 
shows  of  things,"  which  is  the  essence  of  the 
romantic  spirit  ;   then  painting  became  intense 
poetry  as   well   as   vigorous   art  ;   and   a  truly 
national  school  came  into  existence,  which,  with 
the  same  earnest  spirit  which  had  animated  the 
Italian  painters,  but  with  greater  knowledge  and 
power  at  its  disposal  than  had  been  theirs,  sought 
to  reconcile  the  classic  ideal  of  old  Greece  with 
the  modern  spiritual  ideal  of  humanity.    Soon  the 
principles  of  this  new  school  began  to  spread 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  pictorial,  and  within 
thirty  years  of  the  foundation  of  the  Brotherhood, 
the  movement  had  expanded  into  a  revival  of  the 
decorative  arts, — a  fact  mainly  due  to  the  fortu- 
nate association  of  two  great  men,  Burne-Jones 
and  William  Morris,  and  to  their  conjunction  with 
Rossetti. 

Little  is  known  of  the  ancestry  of  Burne-Jones. 
His  great-grandfather,  who  was  of  Welsh  origin, 
was  a  schoolmaster  at  Hanbury,  in  Worcester- 
shire, and  had  a  son,  Edward  Bevin  Jones,  who 
married  Edith  Alvin.  Their  son,  Edward  Richard 
Jones,  married  Elizabeth  Coley.    These  were  the 


6 


BURNE-JONES 


parents  of  the  child,  who,  born  on  the  28th  of 
August,  1833,  at  II,  Bennetts  Hill,  Birmingham, 
received  in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Philip  the 
names  of  Edward  Coley  Burne,  the  last  of  which 
was  later  adopted  as  part  of  that  surname  which 
has  become  throughout  the  world  a  watchword, 
a  standard  hailed  with  the  enthusiasm  of  younger 
men  in  the  new  effort  for  idealism,  the  most 
vigorous  artistic  movement  of  later  days/' 

A  lonely  childhood  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  delicate 
boy,  whose  mother  had  died  at  his  birth.  From 
his  earliest  years,  the  education  given  him  was  of 
a  serious  nature,  for  it  was  the  one  ambition  of 
his  father,  a  man  of  high  principles  and  simple 
piety,  that  his  son  should  enter  the  Church  ;  but, 
from  the  time  the  boy  could  hold  a  pencil,  drawing 
was  his  passion,  and  his  favourite  book  was  a 
volume  of  ^sop's  Fables,  because  it  was  adorned 
with  prints  ;  it  is  said  that  his  childish  produc- 
tions were  so  much  above  the  average  that  an 
appreciative  friend  kept  and  dated  many  of  them, 
and  gave  him  much  encouragement.  As  frame- 
making  was  part  of  his  father's  business,  it  might 
be  thought  that  the  sight  of  the  pictures  which 
came  to  be  framed  might  have  supplied  some 
incentive  towards  drawing  ;  but,  when  one  con- 
siders the  kind  of  art  these  would  be  likely  to 
represent  in  a  provincial  town  of  that  day,  one 
cannot  wonder  that  no  source  of  inspiration  was 
found  in  them.  Of  real,  living  art  there  was  no 
trace  in  the  child's  surroundings,  yet  nothing 
could  quench  the  imaginative  power  of  such  a 
nature.     From  the   remote   ancestors  who,  in 


EARLY  YEARS  7 

primeval  days,  among  the  vast  silences  of  the 
untrodden  hills,  had  felt  all  about  them  the 
presence  of  the  unseen,  he  had  inherited  in  full 
that  mysterious  Celtic  temperament  to  which  no 
doubt  he  owed  his  quick  perceptive  instincts,  the 
romantic  disposition  of  his  mind,  his  sense  of 
reverence,  his  feeling  of  the  mystery  of  existence 
and  of  the  magic  charm  of  nature,  his  conscious- 
ness of  the  nearness  and  significance  of  the 
spiritual  world,  which  were  later  to  find  such 
clear  expression  in  his  work.  He  had,  besides, 
too  keen  a  sense  of  humour  to  find  any  sur- 
roundings dull,  and  the  delicate  health  which 
debarred  him  from  ever  taking  much  interest  in 
the  usual  games  of  boyhood,  only  served  to 
accentuate  his  passion  for  reading.  If  I  had 
not  become  a  painter,"  he  once  told  a  friend, 
assuredlv  I  should  have  become  a  bookworm," 
— and  long  before  he  began  to  go  to  school  the 
booksellers'  shops  fascinated  him.  Often  he 
would  stand  gazing  into  them,  longing  to  handle 
and  turn  the  pages  of  the  volumes  whose  covers 
alone  he  could  see,  and  envying  the  lucky  boy 
who  stood  behind  the  counter  with  such  easy 
access  to  them.  Little  did  he  then  dream  of  a 
wondrous  future,  when  he  would  himself  iUustrate 
books  more  beautiful  than  any  produced  in  modern 
times,  and,  wandering  as  he  chose  in  a  kingdom 
of  his  own  of  glamour  and  romance,  bring  back 
from  it  visions  of  loveliness,  which  would  be 
amongst  the  most  precious  additions  made  in 
these  latter  days  to  the  heritage  of  the  race. 
And  as,   Sunday  after  Sunday,   he  sat   in  St. 


8 


BURNE-JONES 


Philip's  Church,  his  dim,  childish  thoughts 
wandering  far  away  from  his  colourless  sur- 
roundings, little  did  he  think  that,  some  day, 
the  light  which  shone  through  the  great  windows 
would  stream  through  his  work,  proclaiming  in 
his  language — his  beautiful  language  of  line  and 
colour — the  divine  story  of  the  Cross. 

At  eleven  years  of  age  he  was  sent  as  a  day 
scholar  to  King  Edward's  Grammar  School,  in- 
stalled since  1835  in  the  fine  new  Tudor  buildings, 
and  then  under  the  direction  of  the  great  school- 
master. Dr.  Prince  Lee.  This  event  he  was  fond 
of  describing  in  after  years  as  **a  leap  into  the 
light,"  and,  recalling  the  impression  made  by  the 
new  world  which  in  those  first  school-days  was 
opened  out  to  him,  he  said  :  I  swam  right  into 
that  deep  wonderful  sea  of  Greek  literature  and 
pagan  mythology  ;  and  just  as  I  have  never 
forgotten  my  first  journey  to  France,  which  gave 
me  a  sense  of  the  poetry  of  background,  or  my 
first  visit  to  Siena,  where  I  found  my  spiritual 
ancestry  in  art,  so  I  never  can  forget  my  intro- 
duction to  the  beautiful  pagan  mythology  and 
lovely  legends  and  literature  of  Greece."^  He 
threw  himself  passionately  into  his  studies,  and 
in  the  eight  years  that  followed  laid  the  foundation 
of  that  wide  classical  knowledge  which  was  of 
such  inestimable  value  to  him,  and  which  made 
Ruskin  declare  him  to  be  the  most  cultured  artist 
he  had  ever  met.  He  had,"  says  one  who 
knew  him  well  in  later  life,  **all  the  qualities 

^  The  Atlantic  Monthly.  ''Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones," 
by  William  Sharp. 


EARLY  YEARS  9 

which  go  to  the  making  of  a  great  scholar  :  the 
sense  of  thoroughness  which  made  his  knowledge 
of  any  subject  which  interested  him,  deep  and 
accurate  ;  remarkable  powxrs  of  memory,  es- 
pecially of  the  verbal  kind  ;  great  critical  and 
comparative  powers,  and  the  finest  literary  tact 
and  taste."  ^ 

All  through  these  years  of  study  his  artistic 
powers  seem  to  have  lain  comparatively  dormant, 
but  that  his  imagination  was  already  finding  ex- 
pression in  drawings  of  a  fantastic  nature,  is 
shown  by  his  reputation  among  his  schoolfellows: 

There  was  not  a  boy  in  the  school  who  did  not 
possess  at  least  one  of  Jones's  devils,"  wrote  one 
of  them  to  Mr.  J.  W.  Mackail,  William  Morris's 
biographer.  Still  the  idea  of  becoming  an  artist 
did  not  occur  to  him,  and  it  was  with  the  full 
intention  of  carrying  out  his  father's  wishes  by 
taking  Holy  Orders,  that,  early  in  June  1852,  he 
matriculated  at  Exeter  College. 

The  college  buildings  being  over-full,  it  was 
not  till  the  following  Lent  term  that  he  went  up 
to  Oxford.  Here  many  disillusions  were  awaiting 
him  ;  yet  in  the  first  week  of  his  first  term,  he 
found  in  Oxford  the  best  gift  she  had  to  give — 
a  friendship  which  was  to  be  lifelong — and  hence- 
forth for  him  the  face  of  things  was  changed. 

^  The  Ninetcentli  Century^  1899.  "  Some  Recollections 
of  Edward  Burne-Joncs,"  by  Joseph  Jacobs. 


CHAPTER  II 


COLLEGE  DAYS 


1853-1856 


William  Morris — His  friendship  with  Burne-Jones — Their  college 
life — The  monastic  ideal — The  Pembroke  group — Influence 
of  Ruskin — National  events — Chaucer  and  Browning — 
Change  of  outlook— The  Brotherhood  The  Germ" 
— Influence  of  Rossetti's  art  and  poetry — Journey  to  France 
—The  turning-point— "The  Maids  of  Elfen-Mere"  — 
Burne -Jones's  first  meeting  with  Rossetti  —  He  leaves 
Oxford  and  settles  in  London. 


ILLIAM  MORRIS,  who  had  sat  next  to 


Hall  of  Exeter  College,  was  a  few  months  his 
junior;  like  him,  he  was  of  Welsh  descent,  and, 
like  him,  intended  for  Holy  Orders,  but  the  sur- 
roundings of  his  early  years  had  been  very  different 
from  those  of  the  Birmingham  boy.  In  his  plea- 
sant home  at  Walthamstow  and  afterwards  at 
Woodford,  young  Morris  had  spent  a  happy 
childhood,  angling,  shooting,  gardening,  or  ram- 
bling with  his  brothers  through  Epping  Forest, 
and  about  the  surrounding  country,  still  unspoilt  by 

.  .  the  spreading- of  the  hideous  town." 

The  love  of  the  past  was  born  in  him  as  it  was 
in  Burne-Jones,  and,  from  the  time  he  could  read, 
he  had  revelled  in  tales  of  wonder  and  adventure. 


at   the  examination   in  the 


lO 


COLLEGE  DAYS 


His  world  had  always  been  peopled  with  knights 
and  fairies,  and,  as  a  child,  one  of  his  great 
delights  was  to  personate  his  heroes,  riding  alone, 
in  a  little  suit  of  armour,  about  his  father's  park. 
As  he  grew  up,  archaeology  became  his  favourite 
study,  and  his  love  of  it  was  second  only  to  his 
passion  for  all  natural  objects.  There  was  no  old 
building  nor  monument  within  his  reach  about 
which  he  did  not  find  out  everything  there  was  to 
be  known,  and,  while  at  school  at  Marlborough, 
he  absorbed  all  the  information  on  ecclesiastical 
architecture  and  archaeology  which  he  could 
extract  from  the  school  library. 

From  the  first  days  of  their  residence  at  Oxford, 
these  two  ^'dreamers  of  dreams,  born  out  of  their 
due  time,"  knew  each  other  for  kindred  spirits. 
Then  began  that  friendship  which  has  been  de- 
scribed as  a  lifelong  partnership  of  the  imagina- 
tion"— a  friendship  founded  on  the  secure  basis 
of  common  tastes  and  aspirations — a  friendship 
of  which  many  years  later  Burne-Jones  said : 
think  it  began  everything  for  me,  everything  I 
ever  cared  for." 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  with  what  feelings  the  two 
young  men  had  come  up  to  Oxford —  Oxford,  with 
her  magic  name  and  great  traditions,  her  wind- 
ing streets  full  of  the  sound  of  many  bells,"  her 
hoary  Gothic  buildings,  her  broad  walks  and  fair 
surroundings  of  river  and  meadow — Oxford,  "the 
home  of  lost  causes,  and  forsaken  beliefs,  and 
unpopular  names,  and  impossible  loyalties."  They 
found  indeed  all  they  could  desire  in  the  outward 
beauty  of  the  city  ;  and  reminiscences  of  those 


12 


BURNE-JONES 


^Mreaming  spires,"  cobbled  walks,  quaint  arch- 
ways, *  ^  gable-roofed  and  pebble-dashed"  build- 
ings, and  all  that  constitutes  the  peculiar  charm 
of  Oxford,  found  in  later  years  an  echo  in  the 
land  Burne-Jones  peopled  with  the  serene  beings 
of  his  imagination.  To  both,  however,  the  actual 
college  life  was  a  disappointment.  In  place  of 
the  atmosphere  of  lofty  thought  and  aspiration 
they  had  expected,  they  found  dullness  and  apath}^ 
In  Exeter  College  itself,  the  Rector  was  ill  and 
non-resident,  and  both  teaching  and  discipline  left 
much  to  be  desired  ;  the  tutors  took  little  interest 
in  the  undergraduates,  most  of  whom  were  either 
reading-men,  immersed  in  dry-as-dust  learning, 
or  those  who  cared  only  for  outdoor  sports.  The 
grand  old  literature  of  the  past,  to  Burne-Jones 
so  full  of  life  and  meaning,  was  looked  upon  with 
but  scant  interest,  as  a  thing  useless  except  for 
the  purpose  of  cramming." 

In  the  friendship  of  Morris,  Burne-Jones  was, 
however,  to  find  every  compensation  for  this  un- 
satisfactory state  of  things.  From  the  first," 
he  knew  how  different  he  was  from  all  the  men 
he  had  ever  met."  The  two  compared  their 
thoughts,  and  lived  in  each  other's  constant  com- 
panionship, making  few  friends  in  their  own 
college,  but  becoming  intimate  with  a  group  of 
Birmingham  men  at  Pembroke.  Their  two  first 
terms  were  spent  in  lodgings,  owing  to  the 
crowded  state  of  the  college,  but  after  the  Long 
Vacation  they  were  able  to  move  in,  and  there, 
in  rooms  overlooking  the  small  but  beautiful 
Fellows'  garden,  the  immense  chestnut  tree  that 


COLLEGE  DAYS  13 

overspreads  Brasenose  Lane,  and  the  grey  masses 
of  the  Bodleian  Library,"^  they  read  together  not 
only  the  works  which  were  part  of  their  course 
of  study,  but  poetry,  mediaeval  chronicles,  old 
mythologies,  and  modern  authors.  The  legendary 
lore  of  Scandinavia  then  first  became  known  to 
Morris  through  Burne-Jones,  and,  in  exchange, 
Burne-Jones  caught  from  Morris  his  enthusiasm 
for  Tennyson  and  for  Modern  Painters. 

Both  were  fervent  Anglo-Catholics.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  Tractarian  movement,  the  ecclesi- 
astical atmosphere  which  surrounded  them,  their 
love  of  mediaevalism  and  the  beautiful  old  forms 
of  worship  connected  with  it,  helped  to  intensify 
this.  Their  ideal,  in  their  first  terms  at  Oxford, 
was  to  found  a  monastery  in  which  they  might 

combine  an  ascetic  life  with  the  organised 
production  of  religious  art  "  ; — even  then  they  felt 
that  their  religious  vocation  would  be  incomplete 
unless  it  included  art.  As  early  as  May  1853, 
when  he  and  Morris  had  only  been  friends  a  few 
weeks,  Burne-Jones  alluded  in  a  letter  to  a 
crusade  and  holy  warfare  against  the  age,"  which 
was  to  include  celibacy  and  conventual  life;  and 
in  October  1854  the  dream  still  flourished. 
However,  this  phase  of  thought  was  soon  to  be 
superseded  by  a  broader  view  of  life. 

They  consorted  with  the  Pembroke  group 
'Svhen  they  wanted  more  company  than  their 
own."  Like  them,  its  members,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Charles  Joseph  Faulkner,  were  intended 
for    Holy   Orders,   ^*but,"  says   one   of  them, 

1  The  Life  of  William  Morris,  by  J.  \V.  Mackail. 


14  BURNE- JONES 

afterwards  Canon  Dixon,  that  was  not  the  bond 
of  alliance  " — the  bond  was  poetry  and  indefinite 
artistic  and  literary  aspirations,  but  not  of  a 
selfish  character,  or  rather,  not  of  a  self-seeking 
character.  We  all  had  the  notion  of  doing  great 
things  for  man — in  our  own  way,  however,  ac- 
cording to  our  own  will  and  bent/*  Speaking  of 
William  Fulford,  whose  brilliant  gifts  gave  him 
a  sort  of  leadership  among  them.  Canon  Dixon 
adds, — neither  he  nor  anyone  else  in  the  world 
could  lead  Morris  or  Burne-Jones."  ^ 

The  group — or  ^^the  set"  as  they  first  called 
themselves — generally  met  in  each  other's  rooms 
in  the  evenings,  and  read  Shakespeare,  Shelley, 
Keats,  Tennyson,  De  Quincey,  Thackeray,  Dickens, 
Kingsley,  Carlyle,  and  all  that  wonderful  literature 
in  which  the  Romantic  Movement  had  found  its 
expression  in  England.  But  **it  was  when  the 
Exeter  men  (Morris  and  Burne-Jones)  got  at 
Ruskin,"  says  Canon  Dixon,  that  strong  direc- 
tion was  given  to  a  true  vocation."  Modern 
Painters  had  been  followed  by  The  Seveji 
Lamps  of  Architecture y  and  the  first  volume  of 
Sto7ies  of  Venice;  and  when,  in  1853,  the 
second  and  third  volumes  of  Stones  of  Venice 
appeared,  with  the  famous  chapter.  The  Nature 
of  Gothic^  a  new  revelation  dawned  on  the  two 
young  idealists,  and  all  their  friends  were  made 
to  share  in  it.  It  seemed,"  said  William  Morris, 
*'to  point  out  a  new  road  on  which  the  world 
should  travel."  Henceforth  Ruskin  became  their 
prophet,  art  the  paramount  influence  in  their 

^  The  Life  of  William  Morris,  by  J.  W.  Mackail. 


COLLEGE  DAYS  15 

lives,  and  the  artist's  function  assumed  the  char- 
acter of  a  sacred  priesthood,  charged  with  its 
interpretation  to  mankind.  At  the  same  time, 
the  independence  and  liberty  characteristic  of 
Oxford  life  gave  them  the  means  of  developing 
along  their  own  lines  in  a  way  which  would  have 
been  impossible  in  any  other  atmosphere. 

Under  the  influence  of  Ruskin,  Burne-Jones 
spent  whole  days  drawing  flowers  and  foliage  in 
the  woods  ;  and  together  he  and  Morris  read 
architecture,  studied  enthusiastically  every  bit  of 
mediaeval  design  they  could  come  across,  re- 
joicing in  the  loveliness  of  the  old  manuscripts 
in  the  Bodleian  Library,  and  filling  their  rooms 
with  rubbings  from  old  brasses.  Yet  all  the  time 
their  knowledge  of  pictorial  art  was  limited  to 
the  few  early  Italian  pictures  in  the  Taylorian 
Museum,  and  the  woodcuts  in  Ruskin's  hand- 
book to  the  Arena  Chapel  at  Padua.  Of 
painting  we  knew  nothing,"  said  Burne-Jones 
later  ;  it  was  before  the  time  w^hen  photography 
made  all  the  galleries  of  Europe  accessible,  and 
what  would  have  been  better  a  thousand  times 
for  us,  the  wall-paintings  of  Italy.  I  say  it  would 
be  difficult  to  make  anyone  understand  the  dearth 
of  things  dear  to  us  in  which  we  lived,  and 
matters  that  are  now  well  known  to  cultivated 
people  and  commonplaces  in  talk,  were  then 
impossible  for  us  to  know." 

Morris's  first  journey  abroad,  in  the  Long 
Vacation  of  1854,  gave  a  great  impulse  to  his 
and  Burne-Jones's  artistic  development.  He 
travelled  through  Belgium  and  Northern  France, 


1 6  BURNE- JONES 

and  returned  full  of  enthusiasm  for  Van  Eyck 
and  Memling"  and  for  the  glorious  mediaeval  art 
he  had  seen  ;  and  he  brought  back  with  him 
photographs  of  Diirer's  works,  till  then  only 
known  to  them  by  the  poorly  executed  but  much- 
treasured  woodcut  of  **The  Knight  and  Death" 
which  formed  the  frontispiece  to  a  translation  of 
La  Motte  Fouque's  Sintram, 

While  the  leaning  towards  art  was  thus  being 
strengthened,  other  influences  and  events  were 
playing  a  part  in  bringing  about  the  transforma- 
tion of  ideal  which  marked  their  third  year  at 
college  :  the  theories  of  Kingsley,  Carlyle,  and 
Ruskin,  their  hatred  of  pretensions  and  shams 
and  of  every  form  of  cant,  had  done  much  to 
rouse  men  to  the  necessity  for  action  against  the 
evils  of  the  day  ;  the  terrible  outbreak  of  cholera 
in  the  autumn  of  1854  was  followed  by  the 
Crimean  War,  and  these  stirring  times  seemed 
**the  climax  of  a  period  of  moral  and  physical 
stagnation  from  which  the  world  was  awaking  to 
something  like  a  new  birth.''  Burne-Jones's  un- 
certainty as  to  his  vocation  for  the  Church  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that,  at  this  time,  he  is  said 
to  have  been  very  anxious  to  join  the  army. 
The  monastery  was  no  longer  spoken  of,  and  all 
dreams  of  isolation  from  the  present  were  swept 
away  by  a  great  wave  of  social  enthusiasm. 
This  was  further  strengthened  by  the  influence — 
*Mike  two  great  windows  letting  in  the  air  and 
the  day" — of  Chaucer  and  Browning,  now  read 
for  the  first  time.  They  felt  their  kinship  to 
Chaucer's  century,  and  an  affinity  to  him,  the 


COLLEGE  DAYS  17 

outcome  of  which  has  for  ever  linked  their  three 
names  together.  His  healthy,  pure  naturalism 
and  wide  sympathies,  united  with  the  vigour  and 
large-mindedness  of  Browning,  were  greatly  re- 
sponsible for  the  change  of  outlook.  Mr.  Mackail 
says  :  Art  and  literature  were  no  longer  thought 
of  as  handmaids  to  religion,  but  as  ends  to  be 
pursued  for  their  own  sake,  not  indeed  as  a 
means  of  gaining  livelihood,  but  as  a  means  of 
realising  life.  More  and  more  it  became  evident 
that  the  taking  of  Orders  was  irreconcilable  with 
such  a  life  as  they  now  proposed  to  themselves. 
And  the  idea  of  common  organised  effort  by  the 
whole  group  towards  a  higher  life  gradually 
shifted  from  the  form  of  a  monastic  to  that  of  a 
social  brotherhood." 

It  was  no  egotistical  vision  of  a  life  spent  in 
the  culture  of  their  own  souls  which  came  to 
these  young  dedicated  spirits";  they  knew  the 
scarcely  human  conditions  in  which  the  masses 
lived,  and  the  more  deeply  they  felt  the  signifi- 
cance of  beauty  to  life,  the  more  earnestly  did 
they  resolve  to  devote  all  their  powers  to  the 
deliverance  of  their  fellow-men  from  the 

"...  smoky  net 
Of  unrejoicing-  labour  " 

in  which  they  were  meshed."  How  could  art 
flourish,  they  asked  themselves,  while  neither 
freedom  nor  morality  could  exist  in  the  great 
working  centres  where  life  was  barely  possible  ? — 
They  felt  that  not  in  dreams  of  the  past,  but  in 
present  action,  lay  the  salvation  of  the  world  ; 

c 


1 8  BURNE- JONES 

that  they,  too,  must  have  their  share  in  the 
great  crusade  begun  by  Kingsley,  Carlyle,  Ruskin, 
and  Tennyson,  *^ against  falsehood,  doubt  and 
wretched  fashion,  against  hypocrisy  and  mammon 
and  lack  of  earnestness,"  and,  as  a  first  step  in 
that  direction,  *Hhe  Brotherhood" — as  in  1855 
they  began  to  call  themselves — decided  to  found 
a  magazine  in  which  to  proclaim  their  doctrine  to 
the  world. 

In  the  storm  and  stress  of  the  period  they  had 
just  passed  through,  dormant  creative  powers  had 
been  roused  in  the  little  group.  Morris's  first 
prose  romances  had  been  followed  by  a  poem,  so 
fine  as  to  call  forth  Burne-Jones's  enthusiastic 
pronouncement  that  he  was  a  big  poet."  The 
discovery  of  his  powers,  added  to  the  attainment 
of  his  majority  and  the  feeling  of  independence 
and  responsibility  which  came  with  it,  made  him 
take  up  enthusiastically  the  suggestion  of  founding 
a  magazine. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  a  copy  of  the  famous 
Pre-Raphaelite  paper.  The  Gerin^  fell  into  the 
little  circle  ;  a  memorable  event  which  formed  the 
first  link  between  Rossetti — the  soul  of  the  Pre- 
Raphaelite  movement — and  the  younger  men  who 
were  to  continue  and  extend  its  traditions  ;  the 
first  link  of  that  alliance  which  consolidated  the 
principal  factors  that  were  working  in  the  field  of 
reform,  and  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a  group, 
which  for  combined  poetic,  literary,  and  artistic 
power,  is  unapproached  in  the  history  of  the 
nation."^     The    Germ   bore   on   its  title-page 

^   ^  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti,  by  H.  C.  Marillier. 


COLLEGE  DAYS  19 

W.  M.  Rossetti's  sonnet  setting-  forth  the  aims  of 
the  Brotherhood,  and  it  contained  Rossetti's  Hand 
and  Soul  and  The  Blessed  DamozeL  Burne-Jones 
and  William  Morris  at  once  felt  the  fascination  of 
that  transcendent  genius  who  was  to  have  so 
great  an  influence  on  their  lives,  and  whose  name 
they  had  not  even  heard,  till  the  appearance,  in 
1854,  of  Ruskin's  Lectures  on  Architecture  and 
Painting,  They  read  Hand  and  Soul  together, 
*'by  Isis'  side,  William  Morris  being  the  reader," 
and  the  impression  it  made  on  them  was  never 
forgotten.  We  were  both  so  overcome,"  Burne- 
Jones  told  Mr.  Sharp  many  years  later,  that  we 
could  not  speak  a  word  about  it." 

In  the  Easter  Vacation  of  1855  they  first  saw 
some  Pre-Raphaelite  pictures  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Windus,  and  later,  in  Mr.  Combe's  collection  at 
the  Clarendon  Press,  Holman  Hunt's  Light  of  the 
World,"  his  Christian  Priest  escaping  from  the 
Druids,"  and  also — and  this  it  was  which  made 
the  deepest  impression  on  them — a  water-colour 
by  Rossetti  representing  * '  Dante  drawing  an  Angel 
on  the  Anniversary  of  Beatrice's  Death."  These 
pictures  roused  the  enthusiasm  of  the  *^set," 
and,  as  they  pored  over  the  pages  of  The 
Germ,  they  felt  that  here  was  another  brother- 
hood whose  aims  were  in  harmony  with  theirs, — 
men  who,  like  them,  had  felt  the  breath  of  the 
great  awakening  stirring  among  the  dry  bones 
of  outworn  dogmas,  calling  upon  the  spirit  to 
shake  itself  free  from  the  conventionalities  and 
artificialities  under  which  it  was  being  smothered, 
and  to  return   to  nature  *Mn  all  simplicity  of 


20 


BURNE-JONES 


heart,"  as  the  true  source  of  life  and  of  art.  It 
was  round  Rossetti,  the  man  born  to  be  a 
lightbearer  and  leader  of  men,"  that  this  move- 
ment had  centred  itself ;  and  when  he  appeared 
on  the  horizon  of  these  young  crusaders  of  the 
ideal,"  he  at  once  became  their  hero;  to  Burne- 
Jones  especially,  he  appeared  as  the  greatest 
man  in  Europe,"  and  an  intense  longing  to  attain 
something  of  the  same  art  of  expression  for  the 
beautiful  visions  of  his  own  mind  took  possession 
of  him.  The  example  of  The  Germ  naturally 
proved  a  great  incentive  to  the  promotion  of 
The  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Magazine, 

The  Long  Vacation  of  1855  marked  an  epoch 
in  the  lives  of  the  two  friends.  Morris  wanted 
Burne-Jones  to  share  his  knowledge  and  enjoy- 
ment of  the  beautiful  cathedrals  and  churches  of 
Northern  France,  and  together  they  saw  Abbe- 
ville, Amiens,  Clermont,  Beauvais,  Paris,  Chartres, 
Dreux,  Evreux,  Louviers,  Rouen  and  Mont  St. 
Michel.  It  was  a  glorious  tour — and  ^*it  broke 
down  the  last  hesitation."    On  the  way  home, 

walking  together  on  the  quays  of  Havre  late 
into  the  August  night,  Morris  and  Burne-Jones  at 
last  took  the  definite  decision  to  be  artists  and  to 
postpone  everything  else  in  this  world  to  art.  It 
was  decided  that  night  that  neither  should  pro- 
ceed to  take  Orders  ;  that  the  Oxford  life  should 
be  wound  up  as  quickly  as  possible  ;  and  that 
thereafter  Burne-Jones  should  be  a  painter,  and 
Morris  an  architect."^ 

The  end  of  the  vacation  was  spent  in  Birming- 

^  The  Life  of  William  Morris^  by  J.  W.  Mackail. 


COLLEGE  DAYS 


21 


ham,  and  it  was  during  this  time  that  Biirne- 
Jones  discovered  a  fine  copy  of  Southey's  Malory's 
Morte  cV Arthur  at  a  bookshop  in  New  Street, 
where  he  had  passed  hundreds  of  hours  "  read- 
ing the  books  he  could  not  afford  to  buy.  He 
took  Morris — **the  plutocrat,"  as  he  delighted  to 
call  him  when  telling  the  story — to  see  his  find*' ; 
Morris  at  once  gave  the  necessary  two  pounds 
for  it,  and  they  rapturously  read  it  together.  It 
became  their  livre  de  chevet — '*so  precious  that, 
even  among  their  intimates,  there  was  some  shy- 
ness over  it,  till  a  year  later  they  heard  Rossetti 
speak  of  it  and  the  Bible  as  the  two  greatest 
books  in  the  world,  and  their  tongues  were 
unloosed  by  the  sanction  of  his  authority." 

They  returned  to  Oxford  without  Burne-Jones 
having  broken  silence  as  to  his  resolution.  It 
was  in  no  light  spirit  that  he  had  decided  that 
for  him  the  entrance  to  the  Holy  of  Holies  lay 
through  the  Gate  Beautiful  : — yet  he  naturally 
dreaded  the  disappointment  his  decision  must 
certainly  inflict  on  the  father  he  loved  and  revered, 
who  had  taken  such  pride  in  his  school  and 
college  career.  The  profession  of  an  artist  was 
at  that  time  regarded  with  but  scant  favour,  and 
besides,  he  had  not  absolutely  given  up  the 
thought  of  taking  his  degree.  How  long  his 
hesitation  might  have  lasted,  it  is  idle  to  surmise. 
It  was  the  sight  of  a  drawing  by  Rossetti,  an 
illustration  to  AUingham's  little  poem,  ' '  The  Maids 
of  Elfen-Mere,"  ^  which,  in  his  own  words  spoken 

^  Day  and  Night  Songs  and  the  Music  Master^  by 
William  Alling-ham.    Routledge  ^  Co.  1855. 


22 


BURNE-JONES 


many  years  later,  *^set  fire  to  the  stubble."  The 
ascetic  and  mystic  beauty  of  the  spirit-maidens — 

Spinning-  to  a  pulsing-  cadence, 
Singing-  song-s  of  Elfen-Mere," 

the  attitude  of  the  pastor's  son,  who  with 

Hands  that  shook  with  love  and  fear, 
Dared  put  back  the  village  clock," 

to  keep  the  loved  apparitions  beyond  their  allotted 
time,  a  certain  unearthly  charm  and  severity  about 
the  composition,  made  it  appeal  to  Burne-Jones 
as  no  other  drawing  had  ever  done.  He  wrote  of 
it  as  the  most  beautiful  drawing  for  an  illustra- 
tion I  have  ever  seen.  The  weird  faces  of  the 
Maids  of  Elfen-Mere,  the  musical  timed  movement 
of  their  arms  together  as  they  sing,  the  face  of 
the  man  above  all,  are  such  as  only  a  great  artist 
could  conceive." 

From  this  moment  Burne-Jones  had  but  one 
longing  :  to  see  Rossetti,  to  look  upon  the  man 
whose  work  both  in  art  and  poetry  moved  him  so 
deeply.  How  this  came  to  pass  is  best  told  in 
his  own  words  : — 

Just  after  Christmas,  I  went  to  London,  .  .  . 
I  was  two-and-twenty,  and  had  never  met,  or 
even  seen,  a  painter  in  my  life.  I  knew  no  one 
who  had  ever  seen  one,  or  had  been  in  a  studio, 
and  of  all  men  who  lived  on  earth,  the  one  that  I 
wanted  to  see  was  Rossetti.  I  had  no  dream  of 
ever  knowing  him,  but  I  wanted  to  look  at  him, 
and  as  I  had  heard  that  he  taught  at  the  Working 
Men's  College,  ...  I  went  to  the  college  one 


THE  .MAIDS  OF  ELFEX-MERE 
(Hy  n.  G.  Rosscttij 


COLLEGE  DAYS  23 

day  to  find  out  how  it  would  be  possible  that  I 
should  set  eyes  upon  him.  I  was  told  that  there 
was  to  be  a  monthly  meeting  that  very  evening", 
in  a  room  in  Great  Titchfield  Street,  and  that,  by 
paying  threepence,  anyone  could  get  admittance, 
including  tea,  and  hear  the  addresses  ...  so 
without  fail  I  was  there,  and  sat  at  a  table  and 
had  thick  bread  and  butter,  but  knowing  no  one. 
But  good  fellowship  was  the  rule  there,  that  was 
clear  ;  and  a  man  sitting  opposite  to  me  spoke  at 
once  to  me,  introducing  himself  by  the  name  of 
Furnivall,  and  I  gave  my  name  and  college  and 
my  reason  for  coming.  He  reached  across  the 
table  to  a  kindly-looking  man,  whom  he  introduced 
to  me  as  Vernon  Lushington,  to  whom  I  repeated 
my  reason  for  coming,  and  begged  him  to  tell  me 
when  Rossetti  entered  the  room.  It  seemed  that 
it  was  doubtful  if  he  would  appear  at  all,  that  he 
was  constant  in  his  work  of  teaching  drawing  at 
the  College,  but  had  no  great  taste  for  the  nights 
of  addresses  and  speeches,  and  as  I  must  have 
looked  downcast  at  this,  Lushington,  with  a  kind- 
ness never  to  be  forgotten  by  me,  invited  me  to 
go  to  his  rooms  in  Doctors'  Commons  a  few  nights 
afterwards,  where  Rossetti  had  promised  to  come. 
So  I  waited  a  good  hour  or  two,  listening  to 
speeches  .  .  .  and  then  Lushington  whispered  to 
me  that  Rossetti  had  come  in,  and  so  I  saw  him 
for  the  first  time,  his  face  satisfying  all  my  wor- 
ship, and  I  listened  to  addresses  no  more,  but  had 
my  fill  of  looking  ;  only  I  would  not  be  introduced 
to  him.  .  .  .  And  on  the  night  appointed,  about 
ten  o'clock,  I  went  to  Lushington's  rooms  .  .  . 


24  BURxNE-JONES 

and  by-and-bye  Rossetti  came  and  I  was  taken  up 
to  him  and  had  my  first  fearful  talk  with  him. 
Browning's  *  Men  and  Women'  had  just  been  pub- 
lished a  few  days  before,  and  someone  speaking 
disrespectfully  of  that  book  was  rent  in  pieces  at 
once  for  his  pains  and  was  dumb  for  the  rest  of 
the  evening,  so  that  I  saw  my  hero  could  be  a 
tyrant,  and  I  thought  it  sat  finely  upon  him. 
Also  another  unwary  man  professed  an  interest  in 
metaphysics  ;  he  also  was  dealt  with  firmly  ;  so 
that  our  host  was  impelled  to  ask  if  Rossetti 
would  have  all  men  painters,  and  if  there  should 
be  no  other  occupations  for  mankind.  Rossetti 
said  sternly  that  it  was  so.  But  before  I  left  that 
night,  Rossetti  bade  me  come  to  his  studio  next 
day.  ...  I  found  him  painting  at  a  water-colour 
of  a  monk  copying  a  mouse  in  an  illumination. 
The  picture  was  called  *  Fra  Pace '  afterwards. 
.  .  .  He  received  me  very  courteously,  and  asked 
much  about  Morris,  one  or  two  of  whose  poems 
he  knew  already,  and  I  think  that  was  our 
principal  subject  of  talk,  for  he  seemed  much 
interested  about  him.  He  showed  me  many 
designs  for  pictures  ;  they  tossed  about  every- 
where in  the  room  ;  the  floor  at  one  end  was 
covered  with  them  and  with  books.  No  books 
were  on  shelves,  and  I  remember  long  afterwards 
he  once  said  that  books  were  no  use  to  a  painter 
except  to  prop  up  models  upon  in  difficult  positions, 
and  that  then  they  might  be  very  useful.  No  one 
seemed  to  be  in  attendance  upon  him.  I  stayed 
long  and  watched  him  at  work,  not  knowing  till 
many  a  day  afterwards  that  this  was  a  thing  he 


COLLEGE  DAYS  25 

greatly  hated,  and  when,  for  shame,  I  could  stay 
no  longer,  I  went  away,  having  carefully  concealed 
from  him  the  desire  I  had  to  be  a  painter."^ 

Burne-Jones  returned  to  college  after  that 
never-to-be-forgotten  visit,  and  continued  during 
the  Lent  term  to  read  for  the  Final  Schools. 
Morris  had  taken  his  degree  and  had  entered  the 
office  of  Mr.  Street,  the  architect,  but  the  Brother- 
hood spent  its  evenings  together  as  before. 
Fulford  alone  had  left  to  edit  the  magazine  in 
London  for  Morris.  The  first  number  appeared 
in  January  1856.  It  received  encouragement 
from  such  high  sources  as  Ruskin  and  Tennyson, 
and  that  Rossctti  was  much  pleased  with  Burne- 
Jones's  reference  to  his  work  is  shown  in  a  letter 
he  wrote  in  March  to  Mr.  Allingham,  in  which 
these  words  occur  :  **That  notice  in  The  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  Magazine  was  the  most  gratifying 
thing  by  far  that  ever  happened  to  me — being 
unmistakeably  (sic)  genuine.  I  thought  it  must  be 
by  your  old  acquaintance,  but  it  turns  out  to  be 
by  a  certain  youthful  Jones,  who  was  in  London 
the  other  day,  and  whom  I  have  now  met  ;  one  of 
the  nicest  young  fellows  in  Dreamland.''  - 

That  meeting  with  Rossetti  was  the  straw 
which  turned  the  balance  ;  Burne-Jones  suddenly 
realised  that  the  taking  of  his  degree  would  still 
require  several  months,  that  he  was  twenty-two, 

1  The  Life  of  William  Morris,  by  J.  W.  JNIackail. 

2  Letters  of  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  to  William  Allitigham . 
Edited  by  George  Birkbeck  Hill,  D.c.L. ,  LL.D.,  &c. 
London.  1897. 


26 


BURNE-JONES 


and  had  not  begun  to  master  the  rudiments  of 
the  profession  he  meant  to  adopt,  that  to  remain 
longer  at  the  University  would  be  sheer  waste  of 
time.  He  cast  his  hesitations  to  the  winds,  and, 
at  the  end  of  the  Lent  term,  left  Oxford,  and 
taking  lodgings  in  Chelsea,  started  on  his  new 
career. 


CHAPTER  III 


ROSSETTI  :  THE  NEW  LIFE 
1856-1857 

Work  in  London — Rossetti's  guidance — Morris  joins  Burne- 
Jones — Cartoons  for  stained  glass — Pen-and-ink  drawings — 
The  Red  Lion  Square  furniture — The  Oxford  frescoes. 

IT  has  often  been  stated  that  it  was  Rossetti's 
advice  and  encouragement  which  finally  decided 
his  young"  admirer's  career  ;  as  a  matter  of  fact 
Burne-Jones  did  not  see  Rossetti  again  till  he  had 
left  college  ;  then,  at  the  outset  of  his  new  life, 
he  found  courage  to  go  to  his  hero  for  advice 
upon  the  course  of  study  he  should  pursue. 
Rossetti  asked  to  see  his  drawings,  and  at  once 
gave  his  wide  sympathy  to  the  youth  whose 
genius  was  evident  to  him,  even  in  those  early 
works  of  his  untrained  hand.  By  his  own  ex- 
perience he  had  learnt  how  hard  a  struggle  it  was 
for  an  unknown  artist  to  earn  a  livelihood,  and 
it  says  much  for  his  powers  of  discernment,  that 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  commend  the  wisdom  of 
Burne-Jones's  choice,  but  encouraged  him  in  it, 
promising,  in  his  large-hearted  way,  all  the  help 
he  could  give,  and  himself  undertaking  the  re- 
sponsibility of  his  training. 

Rossetti's  ideas  of  art  education  were  diametric- 
ally opposed  to  those  current  in  the  art  schools  of 


28 


BURNE-JONES 


the  day.  The  usual  course  was  study  from  the 
antique,  until  great  perfection  had  been  attained 
in  copying  the  cast ;  only  then  was  the  student 
allowed  to  draw  from  Hfe,  and  not  till  he  had 
exhausted  his  best  energy  in  the  production  of 
countless  worked-up  studies  from  models,  in  the 
choice  and  posing  of  which  he  had  no  voice,  was 
he  expected  to  attempt  any  original  work.  Rossetti 
held  that  this  system  was  bound  to  destroy  all 
creative  power;  he  himself  had  found  it  insupport- 
able drudgery,  and  had  soon  cut  himself  free  from 
it.  He  considered  that  the  student's  individuality 
would  be  dwarfed,  and  his  imagination  cramped, 
by  a  long  period  of  mechanical  work,  which, 
requiring  only  correctness  of  eye  and  precision 
of  hand,  left  the  creative  faculties  dormant.  His 
theory  was,  that,  as  in  the  early  days  of  art,  the 
pupil  should  first  watch  his  master  at  work, 
observing  his  methods,  and  learning  to  handle 
the  materials  he  was  to  use, — then  he  should  go 
to  nature,  and  attempt  to  transcribe  faithfully 
what  he  saw.  The  expression  of  his  own  in- 
dividuality would  follow  as  a  matter  of  course. 

On  these  principles  Burne-Jones  was  admitted, 
at  first  one  day  a  week,  and  afterwards,  as  the 
acquaintance  ripened  into  warm  friendship,  as 
often  as  he  chose,  to  Rossetti's  studio  ;  in  his 
own  words:  was  allowed  to  see  that  master 
at  work  some  thirty  times.  Oh,  the  delight  of 
it !  And  that  was  all  the  tuition  I  ever  had. 
Rossetti  was  my  god,  and  there  was  nobody  like 
him  in  my  eyes."  With  indomitable  courage,  he 
now  set  himself  to  master  the  technical  difficulties, 


ROSSETTI:  THE  NEW  LIFE  29 

which,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  would 
have  been  overcome  at  a  much  earlier  age  ;  later, 
looking  back  at  this  time,  he  used  to  say  that  for 
all  practical  purposes  at  twenty-five  he  w^as  fifteen. 
Fortunately,  to  his  sensitive  Celtic  nature,  was 
united  much  of  the  dogged  tenacity  of  purpose 
and  power  of  sustained  effort  which  belong  to 
the  steady-going  Saxon  temperament  ;  and,  with- 
out a  doubt,  his  enthusiasm  for  his  self-chosen 
master  did  much  to  sustain  him  through  that 
first  anxious  period.  Often  indeed  must  his  heart 
have  sunk  within  him  as  he  felt  the  difficulties 
which  lay  in  his  way, —  but  he  had  Rossetti's 
approval  ;  he  was  encouraged  too  by  Morris's 
strong  friendship,  and  the  continued  brother- 
liness  of  the  Oxford  band;  besides — happy  is 
he  who  has  found  his  work,"  and  he  had  certainly 
found  that  into  which  he  could  put  his  whole  soul. 

Of  the  marvellously  stimulating  power  of 
Rossetti's  influence,  Burne-Jones,  in  his  quaint 
humorous  way,  once  said,  *'it  would  have  trans- 
formed a  turnip  into  a  rose  "  ;  and  this  was  a  case 
in  which  no  transformation  was  needed — the  per- 
fect flower  was  there  in  the  bud  :  until  now,  its 
surroundings  had  not  allowed  it  to  blossom  ;  what 
Rossetti  did  was  to  recognise  its  existence  and 
to  give  it  the  opportunity  of  unfolding  itself.  Nor 
did  he  try  to  force  its  growth  to  imitate  his  own  ; 
on  the  contrary,  as  much  as  possible,  he  eff'aced 
his  own  personality,  ever  trying  to  lead  Burne- 
Jones  to  find  his  own  expression  in  his  own  way. 
From  the  first,  he  saw  that  the  development  of 
Burne-Jones's  genius  might  be  retarded  by  his 


30  BURNE-JONES 

intense  admiration  for  himself,  and  for  that  reason 
he  withdrew  his  influence  as  much  as  possible  the 
moment  he  thought  his  pupil  capable  of  finding 
his  own  path.  To  these  early  days  belongs  the 
oft-told  story  illustrative  of  this  :  Rossetti  found 
Burne-Jones  at  work  one  day  on  a  woodland 
study,  the  one  used  later  as  a  background  to  the 
picture  of  *'The  Merciful  Knight";  he  watched 
him  for  some  time,  and  then,  asking  him  for  some 
of  his  own  drawings  which  he  had  given  him  to 
copy,  tore  them  in  pieces  and  went  away  without 
a  word  of  explanation.  Naturally  Burne-Jones 
was  much  distressed  at  the  destruction  of  his 
treasures,  and  it  was  a  long  time  before  he  realised 
that  the  drastic  action  had  been  prompted  by  ad- 
miration for  his  work,  and  that  Rossetti^s  meaning 
was  that  he  had  nothing  more  to  learn  from  him. 

For  the  encouragement  and  direction  Rossetti 
had  given  him  at  a  most  critical  moment  of  his 
career,  Burne-Jones's  gratitude  was  lifelong.  ^'  I 
couldn't  bear  with  a  young  man's  dreadful  sensi- 
tiveness and  conceit  as  he  did  with  mine,"  he 
once  wrote  to  Mr.  Comyns  Carr  ;  he  taught  me 
practically  all  I  ever  learnt ;  afterwards  I  made  a 
method  for  myself  to  suit  my  nature  "  ;  and  to 
Mr.  Quilter  he  described  his  art  as  an  enchanted 
world  to  which  Rossetti  had  given  him  the  key, 
and  in  which  he  had  lived  ever  since.  It  was 
Rossetti,  he  would  sometimes  say,  who  had  made 
him  possible." 

The  friendship  with  Rossetti  and  its  influence 
was  duly  shared  by  Morris,  who  regularly  spent 
his  week-ends  with  his  friend  ;  and  the  result  was 


ROSSETTI:  THE  NEW  LIFE  31 

that  when  Street  removed  his  office  from  Oxford 
to  London,  Morris,  who  then  came  up  with  him, 
and  shared  rooms  with  Burne-Jones  in  Upper 
Gordon  Street,  determined  to  study  painting  as 
well  as  architecture,  and  *^to  get  six  hours  a  day 
for  drawing,  besides  office  work." 

Mr.  Mackail  quotes  a  delightful  letter  from 
Burne-Jones,  full  of  the  joy  of  the  new  life  : 
^^Topsy  and  I  live  together, "he  says — (**Topsy," 
frequently  abbreviated  to  '*Top,"  was  the  nick- 
name given  to  Morris,  from  his  hair,  so  charmingly 
described  by  Burne-Jones,  as  unnaturally  and 
unnecessarily  curly") — *'in  the  quaintest  rooms  in 
all  London,  hung  with  brasses  of  old  knights  and 
drawings  of  Albert  Diirer.  We  know  Rossetti 
now  as  a  daily  friend,  and  we  know  Browning, 
too,  who  is  the  greatest  poet  alive,  and  we  know 
Arthur  Hughes  and  Woolner,  and  Madox  Brown 
— Madox  Brown  is  a  lark  !  I  asked  him  the  other 
day  if  I  wasn't  very  old  to  begin  painting,  and  he 
said,  *  Oh,  no  !  there  was  a  man  I  knew  who 
began  older  ;  by  the  bye,  he  cut  his  throat  the 
other  day, 'so  I  ask  no  more  about  men  who  begin 
late. — The  Magazine  is  going  to  smash  -  let  it  go! 
.  .  .  We  cannot  do  more  than  one  thing  at  a  time, 
and  our  hours  are  too  valuable  to  spend  so." 

The  hours  were  indeed  priceless.  Not  only  had 
Burne-Jones  to  make  up  for  the  time  he  had  lost 
from  the  technical  point  of  view,  but  he  had  at 
once  to  think  of  earning  a  livelihood  by  the  art  he 
was  only  just  beginning  to  practise.  All  day  he 
worked  in  his  lodgings,  and  at  night  he  and 
Morris  drew  in  a  life-class  in  one  of  the  many  art 


32  BURNE- JONES 

schools  in  their  neighbourhood.  Fortunately  the 
commissions  which  were  not  long*  in  coming  after 
he  had  placed  himself  under  Rossetti's  guidance, 
soon  saved  him  from  anxiety  as  to  the  future  ; 
Rossetti,  with  characteristic  generosity,  exerted 
himself  to  obtain  work  for  his  friend  and  pupil, 
and  Messrs.  Powell,  of  the  Whitefriars  Glass 
Factory,  having  applied  to  him  for  a  design  for 
stained  glass,  he  excused  himself  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  too  much  occupied,  and  obtained  the 
commission  for  Burne-Jones.  This  led  to  others 
from  the  same  source,  and  the  connection  thus 
begun  did  not  cease  till   the  establishment  of 

Morris,  Marshall,  Faulkner  &  Co."  in  1861, 
from  which  date  all  Burne-Jones's  decorative  work 
was  executed  for  his  friend's  firm. 

The  first  of  his  innumerable  cartoons  for  windows 
was  one  representing  *^The  Good  Shepherd.'* 
His  artist  friends  were  delighted  with  it ;  Rossetti 
wrote:  Jones  has  just  been  designing  some 
stained  glass  which  has  driven  Ruskin  wild  with 
joy.  The  subject  is  *  The  Good  Shepherd.' 
Christ  is  here  represented  as  a  real  shepherd, 
in  such  dress  as  is  fitting  for  walking  the  fields 
and  hills.  He  carries  the  lost  sheep  on  His 
shoulders,  and  it  is  chewing  some  vine  leaves 
which  are  wound  around  His  hat.  A  lovely  idea, 
is  it  not?  A  loaf,  a  bottle  of  wine,  the  Sacred 
Elements,  hang  at  His  girdle  ;  and  behind  Him 
is  a  wonderful  piece  of  Gothic  landscape.  The 
colour  of  the  whole  is  beyond  description."^ 

1  The  Art  Annual,  1894.  ''The  Decorative  Work  of 
Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones,  Bart.,"  by  Aymer  Vallance. 


ROSSEITI:  THE  NEW  LIFE  33 

This  design  was  at  once  followed  by  two  others 
representing      St.  Peter"  and  *'St.  Paul."  In 
the  first,  the  sea  is  represented  by  conventional 
waves  and  fishes  ;  St.  Peter  kneels  in  his  boat, 
symbolic  of  the  Church,  and  receives  the  key  from 
Christ,  whose  hand  alone  appears  ;  two  crimson- 
winged  angels  bend  above  him,  the  one  supporting 
five  kneeling  figures  of  mail-clad  men  with  hands 
folded  in  prayer, — the  other,  the  same  number  of 
women  in  the  same  attitude,  robed  in  black,  with 
high  white  coifs.    These  figures,  representative 
of  the  humanity  which  the  Church  is  to  save,  are 
on  quite  a  small  scale,  and  produce  a  quaint 
archaic  eff'ect.    In  the  second,  St.  Paul  is  repre- 
sented in  armour  and  kneeling,  while  two  angels 
bend  over  him,  the  one  holding  to  his  lips  the 
Cup  of  the  Sacrament,  while  the  other  girds  him 
with  the  Sword  of  the  Spirit.    Three  more  car- 
toons, executed  for  Bradfield  College,  represent 
**Adam  and  Eve,"  *^The  Tower  of  Babel,"  and 
Solomon  and  the  Queen  of  Sheba. "     All  are 
treated  with  great  breadth,  and  show  fine  feeling 
for  design  and  colouring,  while  the  way  in  which 
the  possibilities  and  limitations  of  the  material 
have  been  understood  is  remarkable  ;  and,  when 
one  considers  to  what  a  low  level  the  art  had 
fallen,  and  the  youth  and  inexperience  of  the 
artist,  they  are  truly,  as  Mr.  Aymer  Vallance  has 
said,     amazing  accomplishments." 

It  was  not  long  before  the  proficiency  Burne- 
Jones  had  attained  in  this  branch  of  design  was 
such  as  to  allow  of  his  giving  a  course  of  lessons 
on  the  subject  at  the  Working  Men's  College,  and 


D 


34  BURNE-JONES 

thus  sharing  in  the  work  about  which  he  and 
Morris  were  so  enthusiastic.  This  was  about 
1859,  the  year  in  which  he  designed  The  Legend 
of  St.  Frideswide  ^  for  the  North  Choir  Chapel 
of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  a  gorgeous  and  elabo- 
rate piece  of  work,  the  beautiful  cartoons  for 
which  were  afterwards  painted  in  oils  and  mounted 
into  a  screen.  In  this  representation  of  sixteen 
incidents  of  the  life  of  the  Saxon  saint,  Burne- 
Jones  follows  her  through  all  the  details  of  her 
history,  filling  in  with  his  own  rich  imagination 
the  bare  outlines  given  by  the  ancient  chroniclers. 
Unfortunately,  owing  to  a  wrong  set  of  measure- 
ments having  been  given,  the  designs  were  made 
on  too  large  a  scale  ;  in  the  reduction  to  which 
they  had  to  be  submitted,  somewhat  of  the  in- 
tended richness  of  effect  was  lost  and  a  slightly 
confused  aspect  produced  instead. 

The  last  window  designed  for  Messrs.  Powell 
was  for  Waltham  Abbey.  It  is  in  three  lights, 
representing,  on  one  side,  the  Fall  of  Man,  and 
the  gradual  ascent  through  the  Patriarchs  to  the 
giving  of  the  Law,  shown  by  the  figure  of  Moses 
holding  the  Tables  ;  on  the  other,  the  revelation 
of  the  Messiah  is  typified  by  the  figures  of  the 
Prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist  surrounded  by  the  herald  angels.  In 
the  central  light,  as  the  eye  travels  upward  from 

^  St.  Frideswide  was  a  royal  maiden  of  the  eighth  century, 
who,  persecuted  by  Algar,  King-  of  Mercia,  finally  retired  to 
Oxford,  where  she  became  the  original  patroness  of  the 
church  which  is  now  the  <::athedral  of  Christ  Church.  She 
died  A.D.  740. 


ROSSETTI:  THE  xNEW  LIFE  35 

a  symbolical  representation  of  the  Lion  of  Judah, 
through  the  curving  branches  which  divide  from 
one  another  the  kingly  descendants  of  David,  it 
reaches  two  circular  groups  representing  the 
Nativity  and  the  Adoration,  above  which  is  the 
culminating  point  of  the  whole  window  —  the 
Crucifixion.^ 

The  designing  of  cartoons  for  stained  glass  by 
no  means  represented  the  whole  of  Burne-Jones's 
activity  during  those  first  years  ;  with  that  work 
to  rely  upon,  he  was  able  to  devote  the  rest  of  his 
time  to  the  carrying  out  of  his  pictorial  ideas. 
Among  his  earliest  works  were  some  pen-and-ink 
drawings  on  vellum,  wonderful  for  their  imagina- 
tive power  and  delicacy  of  finish.  It  was  in  refer- 
ence to  these  that  Rossetti  wrote  in  February  1857 
to  William  Bell  Scott — ''Two  young  men,  pro- 
jectors of  The  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Magazine, 
have  recently  come  to  town,  and  are  now  very 
intimate  friends  of  mine.  Their  names  are  Morris 
and  Jones.  They  have  turned  artists  instead  of 
taking  up  any  of  the  careers  to  which  the 
University  generally  leads,  and  both  are  men  of 
real  genius.  Jones's  designs  are  models  of  finish 
and  imaginative  detail,  unequalled  by  anything 
except,  perhaps,  Albert  Di'irer's  finest  works  ; 
and  Morris,  though  without  practice  as  yet,  has  no 
less  power,  I  fancy."  A  few  months  before,  in 
December  1856,  he  had  written  to  William 
AUingham — ''Morris  and  Jones  have  now  been 

^  All  these  cartoons,  with  the  exception  of  those  for  the 
St.  Frideswide  window,  are  in  the  possession  of  Messrs. 
Powell,  and  can  be  seen  at  the  Whitefriars  Glass  Factory. 


36  BURNE-JONES 

some  time  settled  in  London,  and  are  both,  I  find, 
wonders  after  their  kind.  Jones  is  doing  designs 
which  quite  put  one  to  shame,  so  full  are  they 
of  everything — Aurora  Leighs  of  art.  He  will 
take  the  lead  now  in  no  time." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  **Durer- 
esque "  designs  is  that  entitled  *^The  Waxen 
Image. "  Executed  in  1856,  the  first  year  of  Burne- 
Jones's  artistic  career,  it  deals  with  the  tradition 
of  black  art  by  which  a  subtle  connection  is  sup- 
posed to  exist  between  living  persons  and  their 
waxen  effigies.  Rossetti  had  treated  the  subject 
in  his  weird  ballad.  Sister  Helen ^  but  though 
Burne-Jones  was  enthusiastic  about  that  glorious 
stuff,"  as  he  called  the  poem  in  a  letter  to  Madox 
Brown,  his  work  was  not  an  illustration  of  it, 
but  told  a  story  of  its  own.  It  is  a  design  in 
two  divisions,  the  first  of  which  represents,  with 
all  the  mediaeval  accessories  of  trap-door,  black 
cat,  and  toUing  bell,  a  turret,  in  which  a  princess 
has  sought  out  the  witch  w^hose  incantations  are 
to  rid  her  of  a  hated  rival :  she  kneels,  with  face 
averted  from  the  fearful  deed,  while  the  image  of 
her  enemy  is  being  melted  in  the  furnace  in  the 
centre  of  the  room.  In  the  second  compartment 
is  shown  the  working  of  the  evil  spell — the  hap- 
less victim  expiring  in  the  arms  of  her  lover. 
Through  the  window  the  turret  can  be  seen,  and 
in  the  distance,  a  procession — probably  meant  to 
represent,  as  in  the  works  of  the  early  painters, 
another  scene  of  the  story,  the  girl's  funeral — is 
wending  its  way  through  a  great  gate. 

At  the  end  of  1856,  a  change  the  friends  made 


ROSSETTI:  THE  NEW  LIFE  37 

in  their  lodgings,  which  first  called  into  activity 
Morris's  genius  as  a  decorator  and  manufac- 
turer, gave  fresh  scope  to  the  energy  of  both. 
Morris  had  found  out  the  impossibility  of  the 
double  life  he  was  leading,  and  Rossetti's  in- 
fluence continuing  in  the  ascendant,  he  decided 
to  give  up  architecture  for  painting,  and  so  left 
Street's  office.  The  rooms  they  were  in  then 
became  inadequate,  and  those  in  Red  Lion  Square, 
occupied  in  the  early  days  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite 
Brotherhood  by  Rossetti  and  Deverell,  happening 
to  be  vacant,  the  friends  moved  into  them,  and 
the  question  of  furnishing  arose.  Hitherto  they 
had  perforce  contented  themselves  with  the 
commonplace  furniture  of  their  lodgings,  and 
doubtless  they  had  been  obliged  to  endure  all  the 
horrors  proper  to  the  early  Victorian  period  ;  it 
became  a  different  matter,  now  that  they  were 
to  have  their  own  properties," — only  the  furni- 
ture they  wanted  existed  nowhere  but  in  their 
own  minds.  Morris,  with  his  practical  genius, 
soon  saw  the  way  out  of  the  difficulty  ;  since 
they  could  not  buy  what  they  required,  they  would 
design  it  themselves,  and  the  local  carpenter 
should  make  it.  No  sooner  was  the  plan  thought 
of  than  it  was  carried  into  effect  :  and  the  first 
results  were — according  to  a  letter  from  Rossetti 
to  Allingham — a  table  **as  firm  and  as  heavy  as 
a  rock,"  and  a  chair  such  as  Barbarossa  might 
have  sat  in."  Morris,"  he  wrote  on  another 
occasion,  *Ms  rather  doing  the  magnificent  .  .  . 
and  is  having  some  intensely  medijcval  furniture 
made — tables  and  chairs  like  incubi  and  succubi. 


38  BURNE-JONES 

He  and  I  have  painted  the  back  of  a  chair  with 
figures  and  inscriptions  in  gules  and  vert  and 
azure,  and  we  are  all  three  going  to  cover  a 
cabinet  with  pictures.''  Mr.  Mackail  gives  Burne- 
Jones's  own  reminiscences  of  those  times — the 
frequent  amusing  scenes  with  the  carpenter — the 
arrival  of  the  above  -  mentioned  cabinet  whose 
entrance  choked  the  passages  and  stairs  with 
**  large  blocks  of  timber,"  and  which  when  set  up 
occupied  one  third  of  the  studio — Rossetti's  ap- 
pearance on  the  scene — always  a  terrifying 
moment  to  the  very  last"  —  and  his  laughing 
approval. 

It  was  on  this  historic  piece  of  furniture  that 
Rossetti  painted  his  two  well-known  pictures  of 
the  ^^Salutatio  Beatricis."  Later  it  was  removed 
to  Morris's  house  at  Bexley  Heath,  where  it  was 
put  up  as  a  fixture  with  a  music  gallery  above  it, 
and,  when  he  left,  it  remained  as  part  of  the 
house.  The  priceless  panels  painted  by  the 
master's  hand  were  however  removed  ;  they  are 
now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  F.  J.  Tennant,  of 
North  Berwick. 

The  next  thing  Morris  required  was  a  kind  of 
wardrobe  or  cabinet,  and  this,  in  the  spring  of 
1857,  was  decorated  by  Burne-Jones  with  his 
first  oil-painting,  an  illustration  of  Chaucer's 
Prioress's  Tale, 

The  scene  of  Chaucer's  story  is  ^^in  Acy  in  a 
greet  citee."  It  tells  of  a  *  Mitel  clergeoun " 
(or  chorister)  ^^that  seven  years  was  of  age," 
whose  chief  delight  was  in  the  praise  of  the 
Virgin  ;  twice  a  day  he  passed  through  the  Jewry 


ROSSETTI:  THE  NEW  LIFE  39 

on  his  way  to  and  from  school,  singing  Alma 
Redemptoris  in  her  honour,  and  the  Jews,  angered 
t>y  this,  u  j^^j^  conspired 

This  innocent  out  of  this  world  to  enchace. 

An  homicide  thereto  han  they  hired, 

That  in  a  ally  had  a  prive  place." 

And  they 

Kut  his  throte  and  in  a  put  him  caste  " — 

but  a  miracle  was  wTOught  :  the  **pore  widowe," 
his  mother,  discovered  the  place  where  his  body 
has  been  hidden,  by  hearing  him  singing  his 
favourite  song  ;  the  murderers  w^ere  brought  to 
justice,  and  the  child,  **syngyng  his  song  alway," 
was  laid  on  a  bier,  and  taken  to  the  **next  Abbay" 
for  burial.  On  the  abbot  questioning  him  as  to 
the  cause  of  this  wonder,  he  replied  that  it  has 
been  wrought  that  **thc  glory  of  Christ  may 
laste,  and  be  in  mynde,  and  for  the  worship  of 
his  moder  deere," 

To  me  sche  cam,  and  bad  me  for  to  syn^e 

This  antym  verraily  in  my  deyin^'c, 

As  ye  have  herd  ;  and  whan  that  I  had  songe, 

Me  thoug^lit  sche  layde  a  g-rayn  under  my  tong-e. 

Wherefor  1  synge,  and  synge  moot  certeyne 

In  honour  of  that  blisful  mayden  fre, 

Till  fro  my  tonge  taken  is  the  greyne. 

And  after  that  thus  saide  sclie  to  me  : 

'  My  litil  child,  now  will  I  fecche  thee, 

Whan  that  the  grayn  is  fro  thi  tongue  i-take, 

Be  not  agast,  I  wol  the  not  forsake.'  " 

The  abbot  then  removed  the  grain,  and  the  child 
**gaf  up  the  gost  ful  softely." 

The  front  of  the  cabinet  is  divided  into  two 


40  BURNE-JONES 
doors,  one  about  double  the  width  of  the  other. 
On  the  narrower  one,  Burne-Jones  depicted  the 
Virgin,  against  a  background  filled  with  angels,  ' 
starting  on  her  mission.  In  the  lower  part  of 
this  panel,  Chaucer  is  seen  writing  the  story.  On 
the  other  door,  the  Virgin  is  represented  putting 
the  grain  in  the  child's  mouth.  Burne-Jones, 
with  his  characteristic  horror  of  the  repulsive,  has 
left  out  all  the  hideous  details  of  the  story  and 
retained  only  its  sweet  old-world  mystical' char- 
acter. The  child  is  rising  as  in  sleep,  with  folded 
hands  and  closed  eyes,  from  the  ground  above 
the  cellar  where  he  has  been  hidden  by  his 
murderers.  The  manner  of  his  death  is  left  to 
the  irnagination  ;  there  is  no  ghastly  wound  in 
the  fair  young  throat  as  the  innocent  face  is  raised 
to  the  Virgin,— such  a  Virgin  as  her  little 
worshipper  must  often  have  seen  in  his  dreams, 
draped  in  deep  blue  and  bending  towards  him 
with  gentle  face  and  motion.  Beyond  the  figures 
is  a  turreted  mediaeval  town  with  a  background 
of  fields  and  trees  silhouetted  against  a  gold  sky. 
In  the  town,  different  scenes  of  the  story  are 
represented  ;  the  school  with  the  scholars  troop- 
ing in,  and  the  child,  distinguishable  by  his  halo, 
sitting  there  singing;  on  the  other  side  of  the 
picture  he  is  seen  detained  by  a  woman  who  is 
whispering  to  an  accomplice.  The  colouring  is 
extremely  fine  and  the  twice-repeated  dark  patch 
of  flat  colour  made  by  the  Virgin's  mantle, 
enhances  the  richness  and  brilliancy  of  the  whole 
effect.  This  cabinet,  now  lent  by  Mrs.  Morris  to 
the  Oxford  Museum,  was  one  of  Morris's  most 


THE  I'RIORESS'S  TALE 
(Painted  Cabinet) 


ROSSETTI:  THE  NEW  LIFE  41 

treasured  possessions  ;  the  painting  on  it  differs 
little,  in  the  conception  of  the  subject,  from  the 
picture  which  forty  years  later  was  the  last  work 
to  leave  Burne-Jones's  studio  for  exhibition, — an 
example  of  the  tenacity  of  purpose  with  which  he 
worked  out  his  artistic  conceptions,  living  with 
them  ever  in  his  mind,  and  constantly  seeking  to 
give  them  more  beautiful,  more  perfect  expression. 

In  August,  1857,  Burne-Jones  and  Morris  joined 
Rossetti  and  other  of  his  friends  in  the  attempt 
to  decorate  the  walls  of  the  Oxford  Union  Debating 
Hall.^  While  on  a  visit  to  his  friend  Mr.  Wood- 
ward, the  architect  of  the  Union,  Rossetti  had 
been  struck  by  the  possibilities  offered  by  the 
broad  space  divided  into  ten  bays,  each  pierced 
by  two  windows,  which  ran  round  the  upper  part 
of  the  room.  In  his  magnificent  way,  he  at  once 
offered  to  come  with  his  friends  during  the  Long 
Vacation  and,  expenses  being  defrayed  by  the 
Union,  to  paint  this  space  with  subjects  from  the 
Morte  d'ArtJmr,  The  offer  was  w^armly  accepted  ; 
Rossetti  *Sssued  his  orders,"  and  it  was  not  long 
before  a  gloriously  gifted  company  of  young  en- 
thusiasts— unfortunately  totally  inexperienced  in 
methods  of  fresco-painting — rashly  started  work 
on  the  walls  prepared  only  by  a  coat  of  white- 
wash. 

These  were,  besides  Rossetti,  Arthur  Hughes, 
Spencer  Stanhope,  Val  Prinsep,  Hungerford 
Pollen,  Morris,  and  Burne-Jones  ;  it  was  in  vain 
that  the  last  had  tried  to  excuse  himself  on  the 
ground  of  his  inexperience.  Munro,  the  sculptor, 
^  Now  the  library  of  the  Union. 


42  BURNE-JONES 

had  also  been  pressed  into  the  service  for  a  carving 
on  the  porch. 

The  energetic  Morris  was  the  first  to  begin  and 
finish  his  picture,  How  Sir  Palomydes  loved  La 
Belle  Iseult  "  ;  he  then  set  to  work  on  the  decora- 
tion of  the  ceiling  and  carried  it  out  triumphantly. 

Burne-Jones  had  chosen  as  his  subject  Merlin 
and  Nimue  "  ;  he  represented  the  wizard  being 
drawn  to  his  doom  by  the  tall  red-robed  Nimue, 
who  stands  facing  him  as  he  approaches  the 
enchanted  well  which  is  to  be  his  prison.  In  spite 
of  the  ruin  which  has  overtaken  the  work,  its  fine 
lines  and  careful  execution  are  still  distinguishable. 
It  was  finished  in  the  autumn  and  Burne-Jones 
then  returned  to  town.  His  Merlin  and  Nimue" 
was  described  by  Morris  as  ^'a  beautiful  work 
which  admirably  suits  its  space  as  to  decoration," 
and  Rossetti  wrote  of  it  to  Professor  Norton  : 

Jones's  picture  is  a  perfect  masterpiece,  as  is  all 
he  does."  But  alas  for  all  the  loving  labour  which 
had  been  spent  on  the  unprepared  surface  !  Six 
months  had  not  gone  by  before  the  paintings 
began  to  blacken  and  peel,  and  to-day  little 
remains  of  that  glory  of  colour  which,  for  a  brief 
period,  made  the  walls  look  ^Mike  the  margin  of 
a  highly  illuminated  manuscript."  ^ 

Szc  transit  gloria  mundi.  Yet  this  attempt  was 
not  without  far-reaching  results,  chief  among 
which  was  the  bringing  of  Rossetti  into  personal 
contact  with  the  Oxford  group.  His  art,  his  way 
of  looking  at  things,  were  impressed  on  their 

^  Article  by  Coventry  Patmore  in  The  Saturday  Revieiv^ 
December,  1857. 


ROSSETTI:  THE  NEW  LIFE  43 

culture,  but  he  was  also  strongly  influenced  by 
the  new  and  stimulating"  environment  in  which 
he  found  himself,  and  from  this  time  the  Pre- 
Raphaelite  movement,  of  which  he  had  been  the 
soul,  entered  upon  a  new  phase  of  which  he, 
Morris,  and  Burne-Jones  were  the  leaders.  It 
was  a  growth  which  had  in  common  with  the 
original  P.R.B.  the  aims  which  had  originally 
united  their  members,  and  which  are  thus  enu- 
merated by  Mr.  W.  M.  Rossetti  : — i.  To  have 
genuine  ideas  to  express  ;  2,  To  study  Nature, 
so  as  to  know  how  to  express  them  ;  3,  To 
sympathise  with  what  is  direct  and  serious  and 
heartfelt  in  previous  art,  to  the  exclusion  of  what 
is  conventional  and  self-parading  and  learned  by 
rote  ;  and  4,  And  most  indispensable  of  all,  to 
produce  thoroughly  good  pictures  and  statues."^ 
To  these  aims  was  now  added  another  : — the  de- 
velopment of  the  decorative  side  of  art,  and  the 
union  of  the  element  of  perfect  ornamentation  to 
the  expressive  power  of  the  original  Brotherhood.'- 
The  Oxford  paintings  thus  mark  the  period  of 
transition  between  the  Pre-Raphaelite  movement 
and  the  Neo-Pre-Raphaelite,  or — to  use  a  much- 
abused  word — Esthetic  movement,  which  followed 
it. 

^  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti.  His  family  letters.  With  a 
Memoir  by  William  Michael  Rossetti.  London  :  Ellis  and 
Elycy,  1895. 

-  Address  on  a  collection  of  paintings  of  the  English  Pre- 
Raphaelite  School^  delivered  by  William  Morris  at  the  City 
of  Birming-hani  Museum  and  Art  Gallerv,  2nd  October, 
1891. 


CHAPTER  IV 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTl'S  INFLUENCE 
1857-1863 

Return  to  London — Influence  of  G.  F.  Watts — The  Hogarth 
Club — Marriage  of  W.  Morris — First  visit  to  Italy — Pen- 
and-ink  work — ' '  Sidonia  "  and  ' '  Clara  von  Bork  " — Marriage 
— The  Red  House  frescoes — The  Firm — ^Work  for  the  Firm 
— The  Bodley  Triptych — Early  water-colours — Connection 
with  Dalziel — Second  visit  to  Italy — Pictures  and  illustra- 
tions for  Dalziel — More  water-colours — The  Merciful 
Knight." 

O  URNE-JONES,  his  painting  finished,  returned 
^  to  Red  Lion  Square  ;  but  Morris,  who  had 
made  the  acquaintance  in  Oxford  of  the  beautiful 
Miss  Burden  whom  he  married  in  1859,  remained 
there  for  some  time,  though  hardly  a  week  was 
allowed  to  pass  without  the  two  friends  meeting. 
In  the  spring  of  1858,  Burne-Jones,  never  of  a 
strong  constitution,  fell  ill,  and  was  taken  away 
from  his  lonely  lodgings  to  be  nursed  back  to 
health  by  his  friends  the  Prinseps  at  Little  Holland 
House  ;  there  he  stayed  several  months,  occupy- 
ing himself  with  the  cartoons  for  Powell,  and  with 
drawings  in  pen-and-ink  on  vellum  of  subjects 
mostly  taken  from  Arthurian  romance.  To  this 
period  belong  the  fine  drawings  of  *'The  Knight's 
Farewell  "  and     Sir  Galahad. 

44 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTFS  INFLUENCE  45 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Burne-Jones  first 
felt  the  influence  of  G.  F.  Watts.  The  great 
master,  his  senior  by  nineteen  years,  was  already 
in  the  plenitude  of  his  powers,  and  well  able  to 
advise  his  young  friend,  who,  having-  begun  his 
study  of  art  comparatively  late  in  life,  felt  thirty 
years  his  junior  "  ;  it  was  Watts  who  made  him 
feel  that  while  Rossetti's  advice,  never  to  allow 
himself  to  be  stopped  in  the  expression  of  his 
idea  by  difficulties  of  execution,"  was  good  and 
valuable,  yet  its  eff'ect  would  be  bad  if  it  led  him 
to  neglect  the  technicalities  without  which  that 
expression  could  be  but  faltering.  It  was 
Watts,"  Burne-Jones  told  Mr.  Comyns  Carr, 
**who  compelled  me  to  try  and  draw  better." 

The  year  1858  saw  the  foundation  of  the 
Hogarth  Club,  and  it  was  no  slight  honour  to 
the  youth  who  had  so  lately  joined  the  ranks  of 
art,  that  he  was  elected  a  member  of  it,  and  thus 
entitled  to  exhibit  his  works  with  those  of  such 
distinguished  artists  as  Rossetti,  Madox  Brown, 
Holman  Hunt,  Frederic  Leighton,  and  G.  F. 
Watts.  There  his  pen-and-ink  drawings  and 
cartoons  were  first  shown. ^ 

The  following  spring,  Morris's  marriage  took 
place,  and  the  rooms  in  Red  Lion  Square  were 
given  up.  Burne-Jones  moved  into  lodgings  in 
Charlotte  Street,  and  in  the  autumn  went  on  his 
first  journey  to  Italy.  This  was  a  great  event  in 
his  life,  for  there  he  found  the  land  of  his  dreams, 
and,  in  the  beautiful  old  cities  of  Florence,  Pisa, 
and  Siena,  the  works  of  the  painters  with  whom 

1  The  Hogarth  Club  lasted  till  1S64. 


46  BURNE-JONES 

he  at  once  felt  his  spiritual  kinship.  There,  in 
the  season 

Of  art's  spnng--btrth  so  dim  and  dewy," 

in  the  frescoes  and  pictures  of  Orcagna,  Benozzo 
Gozzoli,  Luca  Signorelli,  Simone  Memmi,  Taddeo 
Gaddi,  Mantegna,  and  above  all  Botticelli,  he 
found  the  same  temper  of  thought  which  so 
delighted  him  in  Chaucer  and  his  contemporaries. 
The  spiritual  feeling,  which,  in  the  works  of  the 
early  painters,  is  combined  with  so  refined  a  sense 
of  decorative  design,  appealed  to  him  in  an  extra- 
ordinary manner,  and  in  the  company  of  the 
Primitives  he  felt  himself  in  his  own  true  at- 
mosphere. He  came  back  to  London  full  of 
renewed  health  and  aspirations,  and  again  applied 
himself  to  pen-and-ink  work.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  subjects  thus  treated  was  The 
Wedding  of  Buondelmonte,"  that  first  episode  in 
the  story  of  the  dissensions  which  for  so  many 
years  disturbed  the  peace  of  Florence.  In  this 
drawing,  containing  about  seventy  figures,  two 
scenes  of  the  story  are  shown,  but  the  tragedy 
itself  is  only  suggested  by  the  introduction  of  the 
antique  statue  of  Mars,  which  held  so  important 
a  place  in  the  superstitious  regard  of  the  early 
Florentines,  and  at  the  foot  of  which  the  murder 
of  Buondelmonte  by  the  kinsmen  of  hi:^  forsaken 
bride-elect  is  said  to  have  taken  place.  This 
statue,  ominously  dark,  occupies  the  centre  of 
the  picture  ;  the  god  of  Strife  is  represented  in 
the  act  of  casting  his  spear  in  the  direction  of  the 
young  man  to  whom  the  lady  of  the  Donati  is 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTrS  INFLUENCE  47 

presenting  her  daughter  ;  the  Arno  flows  past  the 
foot  of  the  statue,  and,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
composition,  the  lady  of  the  Amadei,  unwitting  of 
her  lover's  desertion,  is  seen  approaching  on  her 
barge  which  is  guided  by  a  blindfolded  figure  of 
Love  ;  she  is  surrounded  by  ladies,  and  the  town 
is  full  of  preparations  for  the  celebration  of  the 
marriage.  It  is  an  elaborate  and  intricate  drawing, 
slightly  confused  in  its  elaboration  of  detail,  but 
of  wonderful  delicacy  and  minuteness  of  execu- 
tion. The  background  is  full  of  the  artist's  new 
knowledge  of  Italy, — hills  and  streams,  olive  trees 
and  cypresses,  quaint  mediaeval  buildings  and  old 
gardens. 

Other  pen-and-ink  drawings  of  this  and  the 
following  year,  were      Alys  la  belle  Pelerine," 

Going  to  the  Battle,"  Kings'  Daughters,"  and 
the  intensely  tragic  Parable  of  the  Wise  and 
Foolish  Virgins,"  in  which  the  Foolish  Virgins 
are  shown  in  the  faint  light  of  a  stormy  dawn, 
knocking  at  a  low  door  at  the  end  of  a  narrow 
drawbridge  ;  beneath  them  the  stream  rushes  by 
with  the  relentlessness  of  lost  time,  and,  in  the 
dark  landscape  beyond,  the  wind-tossed  trees  are 
swaying  against  the  troubled  sky. 

The  *^St.  Frideswide "  cartoons  for  Messrs. 
Powell,  mentioned  in  the  last  chapter,  and  several 
fine  water-colours  belong  to  1859.  Among  the 
latter  are  two  famous  paintings  representing  the 
heroines  of  a  weird  romance  written  by  the  Swiss 
clergyman  Meinhold,  and  purporting  to  be,  not  a 
modern  work  of  fiction,  but  a  newly  discovered 
manuscript  revealing  the  authentic  and  hitherto 


48  BURNE-JONES 

unknown  history  of  the  beautiful  and  wicked 
Sidonia  von  Bork,  who  by  her  sortileges  destroyed 
the  royal  house  of  Pomerania,  and  finally,  in  her 
old  age,  was  put  to  death  as  a  witch.  *  *  Meinhold, 
says  Mr.  W.  M.  Rossetti,  in  words  which  explain 
the  fascination  this  curious  book  had  for  Rossetti 
and  Burne-Jones, — was  pecuHarly  painter-like  as 
regards  accuracy  of  costuming  and  detail,  pre- 
senting the  outer  aspect  of  a  past  century  with  all 
the  precision  of  a  contemporary  portrait.  He 
gives  it  in  action,  and  in  minutiae  of  incident  and 
manner,  and  in  all  those  numberless  small  points 
of  externals,  which  made  the  same  thing  done  in 
the  past  look  differently  from  what  it  does  in  the 
present." 

Burne-Jones's  two  pictures  of  Clara  and 
Sidonia  von  Bork  "  show  the  influence  of 
Rossetti,  yet  the  method  of  work  is  already 
decidedly  his  own,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to 
mistake  them  for  the  work  of  the  elder  master. 
They  are  painted  in  body-colour,  and  attain  a 
depth  of  intensity  in  the  shadows,  and  a  quality 
of  technique  which  could  not  be  surpassed  in  oil. 
Like  *'The  Prioress's  Tale"  and  the  cartoons  for 
windows,  they  show  the  extraordinary  instinctive 
feeling  with  which,  from  the  beginning,  Burne- 
Jones  *Maid  on  pigments  and  the  colour  came." 
Clara  von  Bork,  one  of  Sidonia's  many  victims, 
advances  slowly,  in  an  amber-coloured  robe  with 
brown  sleeves  ;  her  pure  and  gentle  character  is 
symbolised  by  the  nest  of  fledgeling  doves  she 
carries,  and  which  the  witch's  cat  is  greedily 
watching.    Sidonia,  with  magnificent  gold  hair 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTFS  INFLUENCE  49 

bound  in  a  fillet,  wearing*  a  white  gown  covered 
with  a  black  open-work  robe  of  an  intricate 
pattern  which  suggests  writhing  and  knotted 
snakes,  is  glowering  angrily,  as  with  clenched 
hand  she  drags  at  the  necklace  at  her  throat. 
She  seems  the  very  incarnation  of  the  spirit  of 
revengeful  hatred.  In  the  mysterious  backgrounds 
of  both  pictures,  figures  are  seen  moving  about  in 
dimly  lighted  rooms  and  passages. 

By  this  time  Burne-Jones's  career  was  well 
assured  ;  his  cartoons  for  glass  promised  constant 
occupation ;  and,  besides  this,  Rossetti,  in  his  gener- 
ous friendship,  had  brought  him  to  the  notice,  not 
only  of  Ruskin,  who  took  the  keenest  interest  in  the 
young  classical  scholar  with  the  great  gift  for  art, 
but  also  of  Mr.  Leathart  who  bought  both  the 
*'von  Bork  "  water-colours,  Mr.  William  Graham 
who  became  a  close  friend,  and  other  early  patrons 
of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  movement,  all  of  whom  were 
encouraging  in  their  support.  Henceforth  the 
young  artist  could  feel  sure  of  sympathetic  ap- 
preciation from  an  ever-growing  circle  of  intelli- 
gent art  lovers.^ 

In  the  month  of  June  i860,  he  was  married  in 
Manchester  Cathedral  to  Miss  Geor<riana  Mac- 
donald,  one  of  the  five  gifted  daughters  of  the 
Rev.  G.  B.  Macdonald,  two  of  whom  afterwards 
became  Lady  Poynter  and  Mrs.  Kipling.  Burne- 
Jones  had  known  his  bride  from  childhood,  and 

^  There  is  a  mention  in  one  of  Rossetti's  letters  of  Mr. 
Flint,  the  Leeds  stockbroker,  who  was  a  purchaser  of  Pre- 
Raphaelite  pictures,  having-  s^iven  Burne-Jones  a  commis- 
sion in  January  1858  for  £350. 

E 


50  BURNE-JONES 

had  become  engaged  to  her  on  leaving  college  ; 
his  marriage  marked  the  beginning  of  a  period  of 
quiet  happiness  and  joyous  industry,  which  only 
ceased  at  his  death. 

Meanwhile  Morris  had  projected  ^'  a  little  Palace 
of  Art  of  his  own  "  at  Upton,  near  Bexley.  It 
was  the  first  house  built  by  Philip  Webb,  between 
whom  and  Morris  a  close  friendship  had  sprung 
up  in  Street's  office  ;  and  its  building  in  1859-60 
marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  English  archi- 
tecture. Its  name — Red  House  " — in  that  age  of 
stucco  and  slate,  **was  sufficient  to  describe  it 
without  ambiguity  to  all  the  neighbourhood."  Its 
picturesque  plan  and  fine  proportions,  its  gothic 
arches  and  oriel  windows,  its  delightful  rose 
garden  and  orchard,  and  quaint  conical  -  roofed 
well-house,  all  conspired  to  make  it,  in  Rossetti's 
words,  more  a  poem  than  a  house  "  and  a  real 
wonder  of  the  age."  When  it  was  ready  for 
occupation  the  question  of  furnishing  arose.  The 
Red  Lion  Square  furniture  was  installed  in  places  of 
honour,  but  much  else  was  required,  and  nothing 
could  be  bought  to  suit  Morris's  critical  taste. 
In  these  days,  when  the  movement  originated  by 
Morris  and  Burne-Jones  has  permeated  every  branch 
of  manufacture,  making  it  possible  for  everyone 
to  surround  themselves  with  objects  beautiful  in 
form,  colour  and  texture,  it  is  difficult  to  realise 
the  difficulties  these  pioneers  of  the  decorative 
renascence  had  to  overcome.  I  remember," 
said  Morris  many  years  later,  *'when  I  was  first 
setting  up  house  twenty-three  years  ago,  and 
two  or  three  other  friends  of  mine  were  in  the 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTFS  INFLUENCE  51 

same  plight,  what  a  rummage  there  used  to  be 
for  anything  tolerable.  On  the  whole  I  remember 
we  had  to  fall  back  on  turkey-red  cotton,  and 
dark  blue  serge."  These  of  course  were  for  the 
hangings,  but  tiles  and  chairs  and  candlesticks, 
and  all  the  necessaries  of  daily  life  had  to  be 
created,  and  all  manufacturers  were  not  like 
Messrs.  Powell,  who  carried  out  Morris's  ideas  in 
the  making  of  glasses  of  all  kinds,  and  were  always 
willing  to  adopt  a  new  design  and  produce  some- 
thing beautiful.  As  to  other  things,  Morris  soon 
found  that  he  must  set  to  work  to  manufacture 
what  he  wanted  himself,  and  it  was  this  necessity 
which  settled  his  true  vocation  —  that  of  the 
Master-craftsman — and  brought  about  the  found- 
ing of  the  famous  **Firm."  It  was  in  those 
early  days  at  Red  House,  when  Burne-Jones 
and  his  wife  were  staying  there,  and  Rossetti, 
Webb,  Faulkner,  Swinburne,  Madox  Brown,  and 
Arthur  Hughes  were  constant  visitors,  that,  in 
the  planning  of  the  decoration  of  Morris's  own 
house,  the  idea  of  making  and  supplying  in  the 
most  beautiful  forms  possible,  all  that  was  neces- 
sary to  make  outward  life  lovely,  took  shape, 
and — in  the  words  of  Mr.  Mackail — **the  monas- 
tery of  the  Oxford  dreams  rose  into  being  as  a 
workshop,  and  the  Brotherhood  became  a  firm 
registered  under  the  Companies  Acts."  It  was  the 
beginning  of  a  crusade  for  a  new  faith — *'The 
propagation  of  beauty  through  all  forms  of  life." 

While  the  Firm  "  was  being  discussed,  Burne- 
Jones,  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  began  to 
decorate  the  walls  of  Morris's  drawing-room  with 


52  BURNE- JONES 

a  frieze  which  was  to  run  all  round  the  room  at  a 
heig'ht  of  from  four  to  five  feet  from  the  floor. 
With  characteristic  determination  he  set  himself 
again  to  solve  the  problem  of  painting  in  tempera 
on  a  freshly  prepared  surface.  This  time  he 
was  more  successful,  and  the  three  scenes  from 
the  old  romance  of  Sire  Degrevaunt  which  he 
painted  in  1860-1,  have  stood  the  test  of  time. 
The  marriage  of  Sire  Degrevaunt  wath  the  Lady 
Mildore  was  to  occupy  the  most  favourable  posi- 
tion as  to  light,  so  the  work  was  begun  at  the 
end  of  the  story,  with  the  three  scenes  of  ^^The 
Wedding,"  The  Return  from  the  Ceremony," 
and  The  Marriage  Feast,"  in  which  last  painting 
William  Morris  and  his  bride  are  represented  as 
the  hero  and  heroine.  The  quaint  treatment  of 
the  subject,  the  fantastic  costumes  and  rich 
colouring  are  delightfully  decorative.  It  is  to  these 
pictures  that  Rossetti  referred  jokingly  in  a  letter 
to  William  AUingham  : — literally  see  no  one 
now  except  Madox  Brown  pretty  often,  and  even 
he  is  gone  now  to  join  Morris  who  is  out  of  reach 
at  Upton,  and  with  them  is  married  Jones  painting 
the  inner  walls  of  the  house  that  Top  built.  But 
as  for  the  neighbours  when  they  see  men  portrayed 
by  Jones  upon  the  walls,  the  images  of  the  Chal- 
deans portrayed  (by  him!)  in  Extract  Vermilion, 
exceeding  all  probability  in  dyed  attire  upon  their 
heads,  after  the  manner  of  no  Babylonians  of  any 
Chaldea,  the  land  of  anyone's  nativity — as  soon 
as  they  see  them  with  their  eyes  shall  they  not 
account  him  doting,  and  send  messengers  unto 
Colney  Hatch?"    In  a  more  serious  vein,  which 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETITS  INFLUENCE  53 

shows  his  real  estimate  of  Burne-Jones's  work,  he 
later  wrote  to  Professor  Norton,  of  Cambridg-e, 
Massachusetts  :  A  name  perhaps  new  to  you 
.  .  .  but  destined  to  be  unsurpassed,  perhaps  un- 
equalled, in  fame  by  any  name  of  this  genera- 
tion— is  Edward  Burne-Jones.  ...  I  cannot  con- 
vey to  you  in  words  any  idea  of  the  exquisite  beauty 
of  all  he  does.  To  me  no  art  I  know  is  so  utterly 
delightful,  except  that  of  the  best  Venetians." 

The  beginning  of  the  brave  knight's  story  was, 
however,  never  to  figure  on  the  walls  of  that 
lovely  place,  for,  in  April  1861,  the  firm  sprang 
into  existence  at  8,  Red  Lion  Square,  under  the 
name  of  Morris,  Marshall,  Faulkner  and  Co.,"  * 
and  work  soon  began  to  pour  in  so  rapidly  that  all 
the  members  were  kept  busily  employed.  So  the 
painting  of  Morris's  drawing-room  was  put  off,  as 
well  as  a  whole  scheme  which  had  been  projected 
for  decorating  the  hall  and  staircase  with  scenes 
from  The  Tale  of  Troy ;  and  all  these  plans  were 
finally  abandoned  when  a  few  years  later  the 
increase  of  his  business  forced  Morris  to  leave 
his  much-loved  home — the  beautifullest  place  on 
earth  "  as  Burne-Jones  called  it — and  to  take  up 
his  residence  in  London. 

The  firm  started  with  a  very  small  capital,  but 
with  no  less  an  ambition  than  to  reinstate  decora- 
tion down  to  its  smallest  details  as  one  of  the  Fine 

^  Mr.  Marshall  was  an  engUieer,  a  friend  of  Madox 
Brown.  The  other  members  were  Burne-Jones,  Rossetti, 
Madox  Brown,  P.  Webb,  and  Arthur  Hughes.  The 
partnership  lasted  till  1875,  after  which  date  the  business 
was  carried  on  under  Morris's  sole  manag^ement. 


54  BURNE-JONES 

Arts.'*  It  was  at  first  ^*a  sort  of  club  where  the 
members,"  says  Mr.  Hueffer,  **met,  designed, 
dined,  and  very  boisterously  enjoyed  life — a  good 
and  enjoyable  life  in  which  Morris  figured  as 
*Topsy,'  Burne-Jones  as  '  Ned,'  Madox  Brown  as 

*  Good  Brown  ' — to  distinguish  him  from  a  skilful 
but  toping  *  Bad  Brown,'  whose  business  it  was  to 

*  fire '  the  stained  glass.  .  .  .  The  whole  atmo- 
sphere of  the  club  was  one  of  good  comradeship, 
of  high  spirits  and  certainly  of  no  kind  either  of 
formality  or  of  intenseness. " ^  ^  *  The  goods, "  says 
Mr.  W.  M.  Rossetti,  were  first  rate,  the  art  and 
the  workmanship  excellent,  the  prices  high.  No 
concession  was  made  to  individual  taste  or  want 
of  taste,  no  question  of  abatement  was  entertained. 
You  could  have  the  things  such  as  the  Firm  chose 
that  they  should  be,  or  you  could  do  without  them."^ 

The  architects  Street  and  Bodley  were  at  once 
able  to  procure  work  in  church  decoration  for  the 
new  company.  Bodley  was  building  St.  Martin's, 
Scarborough,  and  St.  Michael's,  Brighton,  and 
windows  were  designed  for  these  by  Rossetti, 
Madox  Brown,  and  Burne-Jones,  while  mural 
paintings  were  also  executed  in  St.  Martin's  from 
designs  by  Burne-Jones  and  Morris  ;  unfortunately 
these  were  injured  by  damp,  and  have  now  been 
painted  over. 

The  business  of  the  firm  soon  grew  in  all 
directions:     the  work,"  says  Mr.  Mackail,  ^*be- 

^  Rossetti.  A  Critical  Essay  on  his  Art,  by  Ford  Madox 
Hueffer.    London  :  Duckworth  and  Co.,  1902. 

2  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti.  His  Family  Letters,  with  a 
Memoir  by  W.  M.  Rossetti. 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTFS  INFLUENCE  55 

came  a  small  whirlpool  of  industry  that  sucked  in 
everyone  who  came  near  them."  It  was  an  alli- 
ance to  which  each  member  was  able  to  contribute 
some  different  element  of  craftsmanship  ;  thus 
Burne-Jones  designed  the  figures  needed,  Webb 
the  animals  and  birds,  and  Morris,  always  great 
at  decorative  ornament,  supplied  also  the  practical 
knowledge  of  the  technique  of  every  kind  of 
manual  work.  Soon  Mrs.  Morris  and  her  sister, 
Mrs.  Burne-Jones,  Faulkner's  two  sisters,  and 
everyone  available  were  pressed  into  the  service. 
Talented  pupils  discovered  in  the  classes  at  the 
Working  Men's  College  were  taken  into  the 
employ  of  the  firm.  Glass  was  designed,  tiles 
painted,  hangings  and  altar-cloths  embroidered, 
furniture  made,  and  in  1862,  when  it  had  only  been 
started  one  year,  the  firm  had  become  important 
enough  to  occupy  at  the  International  Exhibition 
two  stalls  which  attracted  much  attention,  and 
sold  ^150  worth  of  goods.  One  of  the  exhibits 
was  the  famous  King  Rente's  Honeymoon 
Cabinet,"  which  Mr.  J.  P.  Seddon,  the  architect, 
had  designed  for  himself  as  a  piece  of  oflice 
furniture,  and  which  he,  being  intimate  with  all 
the  members  of  the  newly  established  firm,  had 
commissioned  them  to  decorate,  wishing  thereby 
to  illustrate  his  theory  that  *'in  the  unity  and 
fellowship  of  the  several  arts  lies  their  power." 

This  cabinet,  about  nine  feet  long  and  nearly  five 
feet  high,  was  constructed  of  oak  inlaid  with 
different  kinds  of  woods,  and  fitted  with  hinges 
and  handles  of  wrought  and  painted  metal-work. 
Mr.  Seddon  wished  the  various  arts  to  be  repre- 


56  BURNE-JONES 

sented  on  the  ten  panels  into  which  its  surface 
was    divided.      Madox    Brown   suggested  that 
Architecture,"      Painting,"      Sculpture,"  and 
Music"   should    be    represented   in  the  four 
large  panels  by  a  series  of  imaginary  incidents 
in  the  honeymoon  of  the  artist  and  poet  king, 
Rene   of  Anjou ;    Morris   himself  prepared  the 
setting  of  the  pictures  and  the  gilt  and  diapered 
backgrounds  on  which  the  figures  were  to  be 
painted  in  water-colour  ;  Madox  Brown  designed 
the  scene  representing     Architecture,"  Rossetti 
took      Music"  as  his  subject,  and  designs  by 
Burne-Jones  representing    Painting"  and  Sculp- 
ture "  were  executed  on  the  two  panels  of  the 
projecting  central   portion.    In   the  first.  King 
Rene,  crowned,  and  wearing  a  deep  red  robe, 
sits  working  at  a  fresco  ;  Mr.  Clifford  describes 
this  as,  perhaps,  with  the  exception  of  the  *^  Laus 
Veneris,"  **the  most  gorgeous  piece  of  solemn 
colour  that  the  painter  has  effected.  ...  It  con- 
tains almost  all  the  most  splendid  colours  that 
exist,  crimson,  orange,  green,  gold  and  blue." 
The  second  water-colour,  belonging  to  Mr.  Fairfax 
Murray,  shows  the  good  king,  chisel  in  hand, 
carving  a  statue  ;  in  both,  his  bride,  the  young 
Isabella   of   Lorraine,   stands   beside   him  con- 
templating  his  work  with    evident  admiration. 
The  designs  for  the  six  smaller  panels  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  cabinet  were  done  by  other 
members  of  the  firm  to  represent  Gardening," 
Embroidery,"     Pottery,"    Weaving,"  Metal- 
work,"  and  ^'Glass-blowing." 

Among  other  works  executed  by  Burne-Jones  in 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTrS  INFLUENCE  57 

these  early  days  were  a  set  of  designs  for  tiles  for 
Mr.  Birket  Foster's  house  at  Witley,  various 
cartoons  for  silk  embroidery,  and  another  com- 
mission from  Mr.  Bodley,  a  Triptych"  for  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Brighton.  The  centre  panel  repre- 
sents ^^The  Adoration  of  the  Magi,"  and  the  two 
side  ones  '*The  Annunciation," — the  angel  on  the 
left  panel,  the  Virgin  on  the  right.  This  work 
shows  plainly  both  the  influence  of  Rossetti  and 
that  of  the  recent  visit  to  Italy.  In  the  Adora- 
tion "  the  head  of  the  Virgin  is  studied  from  Lady 
Burne-Jones,  and  among  the  worshippers  are 
portraits  of  Swinburne,  Morris,  and  the  artist 
himself.  When  completed  and  hung  in  its  place 
it  failed  to  satisfy  the  young  artist,  who  found  that 
he  had  not  sufficiently  taken  into  consideration 
the  distance  from  which  it  was  to  be  seen,  and 
that  the  detail  of  the  background  interfered  with 
the  general  effect.  With  his  usual  determination 
that  his  work  should  be  the  very  best  he  could 
produce,  he  made  a  replica  which,  painted  on  a 
plain  gold  background,  and  treated  in  a  broader 
manner,  fulfilled  the  requirements  of  the  position 
it  was  to  occupy.  The  original  work,  after  passing 
through  many  hands,  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Bodley. 

Burne-Jones's  productiveness  was  always  amaz- 
ing, and  never  more  so  than  at  this  time.  While 
carrying  out  these  commissions  he  was  also  work- 
ing at  many  other  subjects  both  in  pen-and-ink 
and  water-colour.  Childe  Rolande,"  a  pen-and- 
ink,  was  the  first  of  his  works  to  become  the 
property  of  Mr.  Ruskin,  and,  among  the  water- 


58  BURNE-JONES 

colours,  Clerk  Saunders,"  Merlin  and  Nimue," 
'^Viridis  of  Milan,"  Cupid's  Forge,"  Girl  and 
Goldfish,"  *^  The  Backgammon  Players  "  (formerly 
called  '*The  Chess  Players"),  and  the  first  ver- 
sion of  ^' Laus  Veneris  "must  be  specially  men- 
tioned. 

The  subject  of  Clerk  Saunders,"  in  which  the 
old-gold  gown  of  May  Margaret,  the  red-brown 
cloak  of  her  lover,  and  the  two  passionate  pale 
faces  against  the  gloomy  background  unite  in  a 
wonderful  harmony  of  colour,  is  taken  from  a 
dramatic  old  border  ballad.  The  passionate 
pleading  of  the  lover  for  admittance  out  of  the 
pitiless  rain  and  the  dark  night,  the  no  less 
passionately  loving  denial  of  the  maid,  as,  stand- 
ing in  the  narrow  doorway,  she  resists  his 
entrance,  the  sense  of  lurking  danger  and  tragedy 
which  invests  the  whole  atmosphere,  are  rendered 
with  most  convincing  strength. 

Merlin  and  Nimue"  is  now  in  the  Victoria 
and  Albert  Museum.  Its  frame  bears  an  inscrip- 
tion from  the  Morte  d'' Arthur ^  telling  how  Nimue 
was  weary  of  her  wizard  lover,  and  **fain  would 
have  been  delivered  of  him,  for  she  was  afraid  of 
him  because  he  was  a  devil's  son,  and  she  could 
not  put  him  away  by  no  means  ;  and  upon  a  time 
it  happened  that  Merlin  showed  to  her  where  was 
a  great  wonder  wrought  by  enchantment,  which 
went  under  a  stone,  so  by  her  subtle  craft  and 
working  she  made  Merlin  to  go  under  that  stone, 
to  let  her  wit  of  the  marvels  there,  but  she 
wrought  so  for  him  that  he  came  never  out  for 
all  the  craft  that  he  could  do." 


CI.ERK  SAUNDERS 


MERLIN  AND  NIMUE 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETITS  INFLUENCE  59 
It  has  been  thus  finely  described  by  Mr.  E. 
Clifford  :— 

'*In  the  picture  Nimue  is  pale  and  haughty. 
Her  light  eyes  slant  back  at  Merlin  with  sinister 
glances.  The  hair  is  parted  on  her  forehead,  and 
frames  her  face  with  its  hay-coloured  masses. 
She  wears  a  straight  gown  of  red,  and  a  great 
cumbrous  cloak  of  golden  yellow  lined  with  scarlet. 

In  her  white  hands  she  holds  the  fatal  book, 
from  which  she  reads  the  curse  with  awful  curved 
lips  that  scarcely  part. 

Above  is  a  weird,  whitish  sky,  flecked  with 
yellowish  clouds.  Against  it  is  the  harsh  deep 
blue  line  of  rugged  hills,  and  in  front  of  the  hills 
the  autumn  trees  rise  round  the  dark  lake  which 
duly  reflects  the  gloomy  landscape,  and  shows  in 
the  middle  distance  its  ripples  and  its  reeds. 

The  spell  is  working,  for  the  grave-stone  has 
lifted  itself  up,  and  shows  a  deadly  bluish  light 
beneath  it.  Inside  hang  two  keys  and  an  adder 
crawls  there.  Meanwhile,  Merlin  is  drawn  for- 
ward, and  has  little  power  of  resistance.  One 
hand  presses  his  beating  heart,  the  other  clutches 
his  drapery  with  a  gesture  of  despair.  His  dark 
face  is  full  of  mystery  and  fate.  A  little  dog 
drags  at  his  wine-coloured  robes,  and  vainly  tries 
to  prevent  his  master's  destruction. 

But  the  weary  Nimue  is  inexorable."^ 

Viridis  of  Milan,"  a  glowing  little  work  which 

^  Quoted,  by  permission,  from  an  unpublished  book  by 
E.  Clifford. 


6o 


BURNE-JONES 


shows  very  strongly  both  in  colour  and  feeling 
Rossetti's  influence,  represents  against  a  crimson 
background  a  woman  with  red-gold  hair^  clothed 
in  a  purple  dress  with  sleeves  of  the  most  intense 
blue,  leaning  dreamily  forward  with  her  arms 
resting  on  a  table  on  which  lies  a  pink  rose. 

The  subject  of  Cupid's  Forge,"  originally 
called  ''Cupid  and  Delight,"  is  taken  from  The 
Assembly  of  FouleSy  that  poem  in  which  Chaucer 
describes  how,  on  St.  Valentine's  Day,  he  was  led 
by  Scipio  Africanus  into  the  garden  of  the  Goddess 
Nature,  before  whom  the  various  birds  were  as- 
sembled to  choose  their  mates  for  the  year.  The 
garden  is  pictured  in  the  poem  in  words  which 
give  the  very  atmosphere  of  that  land  which 
Burne-Jones  made  his  own,  '*  the  strangely 
beautiful  world  apart,"  of  which  it  has  been  so 
exquisitely  said, — ''it  is  the  borderland  between 
this  world  of  work  and  the  world  of  dreams,  a 
land  east  of  the  sun  and  west  of  the  moon,  a  land 
in  which  '  once  upon  a  time '  is  the  only  date 
entered  in  the  chronicles."^  There  are  glimpses 
of  the  outskirts  of  this  land  in  Burne-Jones's 
previous  work,  but  here,  in  the  secluded  glade 
where  Cupid  has  set  up  his  forge,  the  spectator 
is  admitted  into  its  very  heart,  and,  if  he  gazes 
long  enough,  he  will  feel  the  glamour  of  faery 
descending  like  a  spell  upon  him,  enchanting  his 
senses  and  taking  his  reason  captive.  A  summer- 
land  it  is,  where 

There  never  was  grevance  of  hot  ne  cold  " — 

^  The  Studioy  vol.  xvi.  "Some  Feature^  of  the  Art  of 
Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones,"  by  Malcolm  Bell. 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTFS  INFLUENCE  6i 


the  same  land  which  Keats  knew,  and  where  he 
heard  that 

.  .  .  little  noiseless  noise  among-  the  leaves 
Born  of  the  very  sigh  that  silence  heaves." 

The  silence  of  Burne-Jones's  pictures  has  been 
commented  upon  ;  it  has  been  said  that  as  in 
Giorgione's  pictures  life  is  conceived  as  a  sort 
of  listening  to  music,  so  in  Burne-Jones's  it  is 
a  listening  to  silences  ;  and  indeed  it  is  a  quiet 
land,  in  which  winds  are  gentle,  and  voices  are 
always  soft  and  low,  and  footsteps  fall  lightly  on 
soft  grass,  and  if  there  is  any  music  it  is  of  the 

^^^^  "  which  gentlicr  on  the  spirit  lies 

Than  tired  eyelids  upon  tired  eyes" — 

and  heroes  and  princesses,  whatever  dangers  may 
encompass  their  path,  keep  an  unruffled  brow  and 
serene  demeanour,  and  go  to  meet  their  fates  with 
equanimity.  It  is  a  restful  land,  and  it  wears  a 
very  smiling  aspect  in  this  picture,  which  illustrates 
the  following  lines  : — 

.  .  .  under  a  tree,  beside  a  vvelle,  I  sey 
Cupide  our  lorde  his  arrovves  forg^e  and  file  ; 
And  at  his  fete  his  bowe  already  lay  ; 
And  vvcl  his  doughter  tempred,  al  the  while, 
The  heddes  in  the  welle  ;  and  with  her  wile 
She  couched  hem  after,  as  they  should  serve 
Some  to  slee,  and  some  to  wound  and  kerve. " 

Cupid  is  crowned  with  flowers,  and  the  doves 
coo  above  his  forge  ;  his  daughter,  Delight  " — 
a  creation  of  Chaucer's  imagination — is  engaged 
in  tempering  the  point  of  an  arrow  in  the  **colde 
welle  streame "  which  has  been  made  to  flow 


62 


BURNE-JONES 


through  a  marble  trough.  The  same  subject, 
with  the  composition  slightly  altered,  was  treated 
later  as  a  woodcut  for  the  Kelmscott  Chaucer. 

The  *^Girl  and  Goldfish"  is  a  little  picture  of 
rich  colour  representing  a  maiden  in  a  red  dress 
cooling  her  feet  in  a  clear  fountain  full  of  shining 
goldfish.  In  the  background,  beyond  a  garden 
full  of  flowers,  rises  a  square  tower  with  a  sun- 
dial. 

In  the  Backgammon  Players,"  a  knight  in  a 
dark  robe  and  cap,  and  a  lady  in  ivory  white,  sit 
playing  their  game  in  a  rose-trellised  garden.  This 
picture  was  given  to  be  sold  at  a  bazaar  for  the 
reHef  of  the  Lancashire  weavers  during  the  cotton 
famine,  and  it  was  later  discovered  in  a  shop  by 
Mr.  Holman  Hunt,  who  bought  it  for  four  pounds. 

The  end  of  the  year  1861 — in  which  Burne- 
Jones  had  moved  to  Great  Russell  Street — was 
marked  by  his  first  connection  with  the  Brothers 
Dalziel.  His  introduction  to  them  was  through 
Mr.  Holman  Hunt,  who  recommended  the  work 
of  his  young  friend  to  their  attention  in  the  follow- 
ing words  :  He  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
of  all  the  younger  men  of  the  profession  for  talent, 
and  will,  undeniably,  in  a  few  years  fill  the  high 
position  in  general  public  favour  which  at  present 
he  holds  in  the  professional  world.  He  has  yet, 
I  think,  made  but  few  drawings  on  wood,  but  he 
has  had  much  practice  in  working  with  the  point 
both  with  pencil  and  pen-and-ink  on  paper,  and 
so  would  have  no  difficulty  with  the  material."^ 
A  visit  to  Burne-Jones's  studio  was  the  result 

^  The  Brothers  Dalziel.   Methuen  and  Co.   London,  1901. 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTFS  LNFLUENCE  63 

of  this  letter.  *'The  room,"  says  Mr.  Dalziel, 
*'was  crowded  with  works  of  varied  kinds,  in 
every  sort  of  method,  all  showing*  wonderful 
power  of  design,  vivid  imagination  and  richness 
of  colour.  We  were  so  fascinated  by  the  man 
and  his  art,  that  we  at  once  asked  him  to  paint 
a  water-colour  drawing,  size  and  subject  to  be 
left  to  him.  About  that  time  he  had  painted  a 
picture,  *a  harmony  in  blue'  for  John  Ruskin,^ 
and  it  was  suggested  that  ours  should  be  *  a 
harmony  in  red.'  After  some  months,  the  result 
was  a  most  highly  elaborated  water-colour,  *  The 
Annunciation.'  " 

An  earlier  ^^Annunciation,"  finished  about  this 
time,  had  been  begun  in  1857  at  Oxford.  Here 
both  figures  are  represented  standing  ;  the  Virgin 
with  bent  head,  holding  a  dove  to  her  breast,  the 
angel  holding  a  censer  ;  between  the  two  figures 
is  seen  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  with  the  Serpent 
coiled  around  it. 

The  picture  for  Dalziel,  which  Burne-Jones 
generally  referred  to  as  **the  little  red  Annuncia- 
tion" and  which  is  sometimes  known  as  *'The 
Flower  of  God,"  -^  is  quite  diff'erent,  and  was  not 
painted  till  after  a  second  visit  to  Italy,  occasioned 
by  a  breakdown  in  health  in  1862.  Burne-Jones 
and  his  wife  went  with  Ruskin  to  Milan,  and 
then  on  by  themselves  to  Venice,  where  Ruskin 

^  The  writer  has  not  been  able  to  ascertain  wliicli  of 
Burne-Jones's  early  works  is  the  one  here  referred  to. 

^  The  name  "The  Flower  of  God"  also  belongs  to  one 
of  the  designs  in  a  work  of  a  later  date, — "The  Flower 
Book." 


64  BURNE-JONES 

had  advised  his  friend  to  study  the  work  of 
Tintoretto,  and  had  commissioned  him  to  execute 
several  copies.  This  he  did,  but  he  soon  dis- 
covered that  his  own  affinity  was  with  the  mas- 
ters of  the  earlier  schools,  and  especially  with 
Carpaccio,  whose  series  of      St.   Ursula"  and 

St.  George  were  a  delight  to  him.  Ruskin 
had  not  yet  discovered  "  Carpaccio,  and  could 
not,  at  the  time,  understand  Burne-Jones's  en- 
thusiasm for  him.  It  was  not  till  seven  years 
later  that,  revisiting  Venice,  he  fell  under  the 
spell  of  the  old  quattrocentist  master ; — then,  in  his 
whole-hearted  way,  he  wrote — There's  nothing 
here  like  Carpaccio  !  There's  a  little  bit  of  humble 
pie  for  you  !  The  fact  was  I  had  never  once  looked 
at  him,  having  classed  him  in  glance  and  thought 
with  Gentile  Bellini  and  other  men  of  the  more 
or  less  incipient  and  hard  schools,  and  Tintoret 
went  better  with  clouds  and  hills.  But  this 
Carpaccio  is  a  new  world  to  me  !  " 

The  picture  of  The  Annunciation  "  was  begun 
on  the  artist's  return  to  London.  In  this — his 
third  treatment  of  the  subject — the  young  Virgin 
kneeling  beside  her  bed  in  a  ray  of  light,  receives 
the  message  from  a  crimson-winged  and  red-robed 
angel  who  appears  among  the  almond  blossom 
outside  the  loggia  where  the  scene  takes  place. 

Another  commission  from  Dalziel,  for  a  Trip- 
tych representing  *^The  Nativity,"  followed.  In 
the  upper  section  of  the  left-hand  panel,  sur- 
rounded by  red  anemones  and  blossoming  fruit 
trees,  the  white-robed  Virgin,  raising  her  hand  to 
her  face  as  though  alarmed  by  the  angelic  appari- 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTFS  INFLUENCE  65 

tion,  is  seen  standing  by  a  well.  Some  steps  lead 
down  to  another  scene  in  which,  no  longer  a  timid 
g-irl,  but  a  dignified  woman,  she  crosses  the  bridge 
which  leads  to  Elizabeth's  house,  and  is  met  by 
the  elder  woman  who  listens  to  her  with  clasped 
hands  and  bent  head.  The  centre  picture  repre- 
sents the  Manger  of  Bethlehem.  The  Star  blazes 
above  it,  and  two  angels  are  decorating  the  roof 
with  holly  ;  inside,  surrounded  by  the  dimly  seen 
cattle,  Mary  kneels  in  adoration  before  her  Babe  ; 
Joseph  is  busy  kindling  a  fire,  and  two  women 
are  talking  at  the  entrance.  Above  the  manger, 
in  the  landscape  seen  on  the  left-hand  side,  the 
shepherds  listen  to  the  song  of  the  herald  angels  ; 
on  the  right,  the  kings  are  approaching  bearing 
their  gifts,  and  beneath  the  starry  sky  can  be 
seen  the  great  white  sail  of  the  ship  which  has 
brought  them  from  distant  lands.  ^  The  third 
picture  shows  the  Flight  into  Egypt.  Lights 
gleam  from  the  city  walls,  and,  through  the  gates, 
Herod's  soldiers  are  pouring  forth,  but,  in  the 
foreground,  Mary,  holding  the  Child  close  to  her 
face,  and  riding  on  an  ass,  is  safely  led  through 
flowery  ways  by  Joseph  and  an  angel. 

Other  works  commissioned  by  Dalziel  were  two 
illustrations  for  Good  Words^ — *^King  Sigurd" 
and  Summer  Snow,"  a  girl  leaning  on  a  wall 
under  the  falling  petals  of  a  fruit-tree,  (a  subject 

^  A  drawing  of  the  Nativity,  entitled  "The  Deliverer," 
executed  in  1864  as  an  ilhistration  to  one  of  Mrs.  Gatty's 
Parables  from  Nature^  is  very  similar  to  the  central  ^^roiip 
of  this  composition.  The  five  little  angels  on  the  roof  are 
represented  striking  chimes  on  a  row  of  bells. 

F 


66 


BURNE-JONES 


of  which  a  water-colour  was  painted  in  1863), 
and  some  illustrations  for  the  projected  Dalziel 
Bible  :  one  of  these,  a  drawing-  on  wood  now  in 
the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum,  represents  *'The 
Eve  of  the  Deluge  " ;  it  shows  a  group  of  scoffing, 
rose-crowned  figures,  who,  little  dreaming  that 
the  sun  which  is  going  down  in  splendour  behind 
them  will  rise  on  a  devastated  world,  and  heedless 
of  the  warning  they  might  take  from  the  birds 
who,  wiser  than  they,  are  already  seeking  refuge, 
press  round  the  door  of  the  ark,  jeering  at  the 
last  solemn  dark-robed  figure  seen  going  into  it. 
Others  were  **The  Coming  of  the  Dove  to  the 
Ark,"  and  later  the  masterly  composition  ^^Ezekiel 
and  the  Boiling  Pot,"  in  which  the  noble  figure 
of  the  prophet,  draped  in  an  ample  cloak,  is 
silhouetted  in  profile  against  a  light  background 
in  which  is  represented  a  scene  of  revelling  and 
feasting.  A  small  set  of  seven  water  -  colours 
representing  ^*The  Creation"  was  also  painted, 
but  the  overwhelming  amount  of  other  work 
Burne-Jones  soon  found  himself  to  have  on  hand 
prevented  his  doing  any  more  designs  for  Dalziel. 
For  various  reasons  the  projected  Bible  was  never 
brought  out,  and,  of  the  drawings  mentioned, 
only  the  ^^Ezekiel"  was  included  in  the  Bible 
Gallery  published  by  Routledge  in  1880. 

Both  The  Annunciation  "  and  *^The  Nativity 
Triptych  "  show  in  a  very  marked  degree  a  con- 
scious imitation  of  the  riaif  character  of  primitive 
Italian  art.  That  this  was  not  a  subjugation  of 
the  temperament  of  the  artist,  but  merely  a  con- 
scious and  voluntary  assuming  of  an  attitude  of 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETITS  INFLUENCE  67 

mind  which  greatly  appealed  to  him,  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  none  of  the  other  works  of  the  same 
year  show  the  faintest  trace  of  the  same  bias  ; 
even  Rossetti's  influence  is  beginning  to  w^ane. 
Two  pictures  of  this  time,  however,  ^^The 
Marriage  of  Sir  Tristram,"  and  '*The  Madness 
of  Tristram,"  and  another,  done  a  little  later,  of 

King  Mark  preventing  Iseult  from  killing  her- 
self," were  executed  for  a  series  to  be  carried  out 
in  stained  glass,  in  collaboration  with  Rossetti, 
who  painted  for  it  Tristram  and  Iseult  drinking 
the  Love  Potion,"  and  with  Madox  Brown,  who 
chose  as  his  subject  the  Death  of  Tristram  and 
Iseult"  ;  and  here  it  is  probable  that  Burne-Jones 
voluntarily  worked  with  the  idea  of  producing 
pictures  which  should  harmonise  with  Rossetti's. 
The  works  which  followed  show  the  gradual  free- 
ing of  himself  from  extraneous  influences  to  the 
final  triumph  of  his  own  individuality  in  ^*The 
Merciful  Knight"  of  1863.  Of  these  works  the 
most  important   are  Love  Scene,"  Fair 

Rosamond  and  Queen  Eleanor,"  "Cinderella," 
"Fatima"  and  "Morgan  le  Fay." 

"  Fair  Rosamond  and  Queen  Eleanor  "  shows 
great  dramatic  power,  and  Mr.  Clifl^ord,  who  owns 
it,  describes  it  as  "overpowering  in  its  force  of 
colour"  ; — "it  consists  almost  entirely,"  he  says, 
"of  wonderful  luminous  black,  with  a  touch  of 
crimson  in  the  Queen's  robe,  the  white  of  poor 
scared  Rosamond's  dress,  and  hints  of  subdued 
green  in  the  inner  room,  whither  she  vainly  tries 
to  escape.  Vainly,  for  she  finds  herself  caught 
round  her  body  w^ith  the  clue,  which  the  Queen 


68 


BURNE-JONES 


grasps  as  hard  as  she  grasps  the  gleaming  dagger. 
There  is  a  round  mirror,  composed  of  several 
little  mirrors,  in  which  Eleanor's  face  is  reflected 
again  and  again  and  again,  so  that  the  place 
teems  with  her.  ...  It  is  Fate,  and  there  is  not 
a  shred  of  hope  for  Rosamond." 

Cinderella "  is  a  subtle  harmony  in  intense 
blue  and  subdued  green  ;  here  the  heroine  of  the 
old  nursery  tale,  grey-eyed,  with  soft  hair  parted 
on  her  forehead,  is  seen  leaning  against  a  dresser 
covered  with  old  blue  china  ;  it  is  the  day  after 
the  ball,  and  in  her  worn  and  patched  green 
gown,  the  little  glass  slipper  on  her  foot,  she 
leans  there  dreamily  playing"  with  the  corner  of 
her  apron  ;  a  pink  rose  is  in  a  glass  on  the  shelf, 
and,  on  the  ground  beside  her,  half  lost  in  the 
shadow,  are  the  pumpkin  and  the  rat  which  have 
known  such  strange  transformations. 

^^Fatima,"  in  the  picture  which  belongs  to 
Lord  Carlisle,  is  clothed  in  red  and  purple  brown, 
and  the  only  Oriental  thing  about  her  is  her  scarlet 
turban  ;  but,  as  with  nervous  hands  and  face  of 
anxious  expectation  she  fits  the  long  thin  key 
into  the  lock  of  the  fatal  door,  she  is  a  convincing 
representation  of  the  fair  lady  of  the  old  tale  to 
whom  curiosity  so  nearly  proved  fatal. 

Burne-Jones  was  ever 

.  .  of  those  that  haunt 
The  vale  of  mag-ical  dark  mysteries," 

and  the  wicked  witch  -  queen,  Morgan  le  Fay, 
King  Arthur's  sister,  was  bound  to  exercise  her 
fascination  over  him.     In  his  picture  of  her  he 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTI  S  INFLUENCE  69 

has  produced  one  of  the  weirdest  and  finest  of  his 
early  works.  It  has  had  a  curious  history  :  it 
was  stolen  from  the  artist's  studio,  and,  in  a 
mutilated  state — the  upper  part  of  the  figure 
only  remaining — came  into  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Graham,  at  the  sale  of  whose  collection  it  was 
bought  by  Mr.  Clifford.  Fortunately  a  tapestry 
had  been  worked  from  the  original  by  Lady 
Burne-Jones,  and  this  enabled  Mr.  Clifford  to 
copy  the  missing  parts,  which  he  then  skilfully 
joined  to  the  picture  ;  the  whole  was  afterwards 
worked  over  by  Burne-Jones  himself,  and  the 
damage  thus  completely  repaired.  The  artist's 
conception  of  King  Arthur's  evil  genius  is  very 
grand  ;  she  moves  like  an  incarnation  of  evil,  a 
tall  dark  woman  in  a  dark  mysterious  landscape  : 

Her  gaunt  face  is  dim,  like  a  ghost's  face  ; 
under  her  left  arm  she  carries  a  vessel  full  of 
vipers  ;  with  her  right  hand  she  raises  to  her 
mouth  a  poisonous  herb.  Her  dusky  hair  is 
wreathed  with  serpents."  And  the  colour  ! — "The 
colour,"  to  continue  Mr.  Clifford's  description,  is 
like  Tintoretto's  finest  work." 

The  subject  of  "The  Merciful  Knight,"  which 
of  all  Burne-Jones's  early  pictures  was  his  own 
favourite,  and  which,  in  spite  of  some  immaturities 
still  apparent,  marks  in  the  minds  of  many  of  his 
admirers  the  highest  point  of  imaginative  ex- 
pression he  ever  attained,  is  taken  from  the 
beautiful  Florentine  legend  of  San  Giovanni 
Gualberto— that  noble  knight  of  the  eleventh 
century,  who,  riding  forth  on  a  certain  Good 
Friday  to  accomplish  his  vow  of  vengeance  on 


70  BURNE-JONES 

the  murderer  of  his  dearly  loved  brother,  came 
upon  him  alone  and  unarmed  in  the  desolate  road 
which  leads  to  San  Miniato,  and  stayed  his  up- 
lifted sword  and  forgave  the  assassin,  when, 
extending  his  arms  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  he 
begged  for  mercy  in  the  name  of  Him  who  dying 
on  that  day  had  forgiven  His  murderers.  The 
legend  says  that,  letting  his  enemy  depart, 
Gualberto  entered  a  wayside  shrine,  and  knelt 
before  the  crucifix,  and  that  the  figure  of  Christ 
bent  down  and  embraced  him  **in  token  that  his 
act  had  pleased  God."  From  that  moment  all 
earthly  passions  and  desires  fell  from  him  ;  he 
forsook  the  world  and  entered  the  Monastery  of 
San  Miniato,  and  later  became  the  founder  of  the 
famous  order  of  Vallombrosa.  Burne-Jones's 
picture  represents  the  moment  of  the  miracle. 
None  of  his  later  works  have  ever  surpassed  it 
in  its  expression  of  exalted  and  mystical  passion, 
and  in  the  magical  qualities"  which  are  so 
especially  his  own,  and  without  which  no  painting 
of  those  old-world  stories  can  carry  conviction. 
Mr.  S.  Colvin  speaks  of  it  as  a  work  complete 
in  imaginative  expression,"  and  he  points  out 
how  in  this  picture  with  its  *Murid  and  sombre 
green  tones,"  its  wizard  loneliness  and  som- 
bre awe,"  the  peculiar  poetic  power  of  the  painter, 
his  power  of  complete  and  harmonious  imagina- 
tion, his  art  de  passionner  les  details''  finds  its 
expression. 

In  the  damp  and  moss-grown  wayside  shrine 
with  its  rank  undergrowth  of  tall  grass  and 
marigolds,  the  knight,  pale  and  worn  from  the 


THE  MERCIFUL  KNIGHT 


PERIOD  OF  ROSSETTFS  INFLUENCE  71 

spiritual  struggle  in  which  he  has  vanquished 
himself,  lays  at  the  feet  of  Christ  his  helmet,  and 
the  sword  so  lately  drawn  for  vengeance,  hence- 
forth no  more  to  be  used.  He  kneels  with  clasped 
hands,  and  a  strange  radiance  illuminates  the 
scene,  as  the  great  carved  figure  bends  from  the 
cross,  and  with  a  gesture  of  infinite  love  and  sym- 
pathy the  soothing  hands  are  laid  on  the  trembling 
shoulders,  and  the  kiss  of  the  Thorn-crowned  One 
is  impressed  on  the  brow  of  His  new  disciple. 
Beyond  the  enclosure  of  trellised  wild  briar, 
through  the  meadow  which  separates  the  lily- 
covered  pond  from  the  mysterious  woodland, 
slowly,  with  bowed  head,  through  the  silence,  the 
forgiven  enemy  rides  away. 

No  picture  of  a  miracle  that  has  ever  been 
painted,  carries  with  it  a  more  intense  and  awe- 
inspiring  sense  of  the  reality  of  a  supernatural 
event  than  this  one  ; — and  the  tour  de  force  the 
painter  has  accomplished  is  this — that  the  im- 
pression left  on  the  mind  of  the  beholder  who  has 
gazed  entranced  on  its  mystic  beauty,  is  not  of 
the  strangeness  and  impossibility  of  the  event, 
nor  of  mere  admiration  for  the  skill  with  which  it 
is  depicted  : — it  is  an  all-pervading  sense  of  the 
mystical  element,  which  so  impregnates  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  picture  as  to  compel  acceptance 
of  the  facts  presented,  in  the  simple,  unquestion- 
ing spirit  of  the  middle  ages.  The  mind  is 
exalted  into  a  region  of  spiritual  mysteries  where 
all  things  are  felt  to  be  possible,  and  an  over- 
powering conviction  is  borne  in  upon  one,  that  in 
such  a  place,  at  such  a  time,  under  such  circum- 


72  BURNE- JONES 

stances,  at  that  great  crisis  of  his  souFs  history — 
whether  the  statue  in  ver}^  fact  bowed  itself  to- 
wards him,  becomes  immaterial — Gualberto  felt 
that  embrace  which  changed  the  current  of  his 
life. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  SIXTIES 
1863-1870 

Election  to  Royal  Water-colour  Society — "Cupid's  Forge" — 
"Green  Summer" — "Astrologia" — "Chaucer's  Dream" 
— The  '*St.  George  and  the  Dragon"  Series — "Theophilus 
and  the  Angel" — "The  Wine  of  Circe" — "Love  disguised 
as  Reason  " — "Phyllis  and  Demophoon  " — Resignation  from 
R.W.S. — Removal  of  the  Firm  to  Queen  Square— Cartoons 
for  the  Firm — Illustrations  for  The  Earthly  Paiadise — 
"The  Cupid  and  Psyche  Frieze" — Mr.  S.  Colvin's  article 
on  Burne-Jones  in  Ihe  Portfolio  1870. 

LI  P  to  this  time  Burne-Jones  had  only  exhibited 
^  at  the  Hogarth  Club.  In  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Dalziel  dated  ist  August  1863,  wrote: — "If 
agreeable  to  you  I  should  like  to  keep  the 
*  Annunciation '  in  my  studio  until  you  return  ; 
for  as  I  do  not  exhibit,  that  is  my  only  way  of 
letting  people  see  what  I  have  been  doing."  His 
work,  however,  was  soon  to  come  before  the 
public  at  the  Old  *'  Water-colour  Society,  of 
which,  in  February  1864,  he  was  elected  an 
Associate  on  three  pictures,  one  of  them  the 
above-mentioned  ''Annunciation"  (''The  Flower 
of  God  ")  ;  this  was  afterwards  sent  to  the  Spring 
Exhibition,  together  with  "The  Merciful  Knight," 
"  Cinderella,"  and  "  Rosamond,"  which  had  been 
bought  by  Mr.  Ruskin,  senior,  in  1863,  and  was 


73 


74  BURNE-JONES 

lent  by  him  for  this  occasion.  Rosamond  is  here 
represented  standing  tying  up  a  rose  branch. 

These  four  pictures,  in  which  so  strong  and  in- 
dividual a  personality  was  revealed,  attracted  a 
great  deal  of  attention.  Ford  Madox  Brown 
wrote  to  a  friend: — Jones's  picture" — (**The 
Merciful  Knight") — **has  been  badly  hung  by  men 
who  could  not  understand  the  poetry  of  it.  But 
I  never  heard  two  opinions  about  its  being  one  of 
his  very  finest,  from  such  as  are  worth  listening 
to."  The  Athenceiim  hailed  the  advent  of  the  new 
member  as  *^the  most  remarkable  addition  lately 
made  to  the  Society."  Other  critics  were  less 
discerning  and  poured  ridicule  upon  work  which 
perplexed  them  by  its  originality  and  in  which  they 
could  see  nothing  but  affectation  and  wilful  eccen- 
tricity. Fortunately  Burne-Jones's  was  a  nature 
little  likely  to  yield  to  attacks  of  this  sort,  and 
strong  in  the  encouragement  of  such  friends  as 
Rossetti,  Morris,  and  Ruskin,  he  soon  learnt  to 
ignore  the  hostility  he  was  for  so  many  years  to 
encounter.^ 

In  1865,  Cupid's  Forge"  was  shown  to  the 
public,  and  with  it  Green  Summer,"  an  exquisite 
composition  very  characteristic  of  the  special 
charm  which  belongs  to  the  work  of  Burne-Jones, 
and  of  no  one  else.    Seven  girls,  dressed  in  green, 

^  The  attacks  on  Burne-Jones's  works  and  his  unyielding- 
ness before  them  inspired  Rossetti  with  the  well-known 
^'  Limerick  "  : — 

"There  is  a  young  painter  called  Jones, 
A  cheer  here,  and  hisses  and  groans. 
The  frame  of  his  mind 
Is  a  shame  to  mankind, 
But  a  matter  of  triumph  to  Jones." 


THE  SIXTIES  75 

sit  or  recline  in  the  long  grass  full  of  flowers,  by 
the  side  of  a  still  pond  which  reflects  the  wood  in 
the  background  ;  some  are  crowned  with  forget- 
me-nots,  and  one  caresses  a  lamb  ;  another  girl 
dressed  in  black  is  reading  to  them  ;  the  green  of 
the  dresses  and  surroundings  is  relieved  by  the 
warm  tones  of  the  hands  and  faces,  and  by  the 
touches  of  red  introduced  here  and  there  in 
the  sleeves  of  the  costumes. 

Astrologia,"  in  red,  gazing  intently  into  the 
crystal  globe  wherein  the  future  is  revealed, 
was  painted  the  same  year,  as  also  the  beautiful 
first  version  of  Le  Chant  d'Amour "  exhibited 
in  1866,  and  Chaucer's  Dream  of  Good  Women" 
exhibited  in  1867.  Formerly  in  Lord  Leighton's 
collection,  this  picture  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Fairfax  Murray.  The  poet  is  asleep  on  the 
edge  of  a  fountain  surmounted  by  a  little  statue 
of  Cupid  drawing  his  bow  ;  a  tall  poppy,  em- 
blematic of  dreamland,  grows  beside  him  ;  on  the 
other  side  of  it,  the  god  of  Love  leading  Alcestis 
by  the  hand  approaches  him,  followed  by  three 
ladies  ;  the  garden  is  bounded  by  a  stone  wall, 
beyond  which  is  seen  a  grove  of  trees.  In  a 
later  version  of  this  picture  the  garden  wall  was 
left  out,  and  more  figures  introduced. 

The  year  1865  also  saw  the  beginning  of  the 
first  of  several  series  of  pictures  in  which  Burne- 
Jones  represented  the  entire  stories  of  his  favourite 
heroes.  This  was  a  set  of  seven  oil-paintings  hav- 
ing for  their  subject  The  Legend  of  St.  George," 
commissioned  by  Mr.  Birket  Foster  for  his  house 
at  Witley.    The  first  is     The  King's  Daughter" ; 


76  BURNE-JONES 

in  it  the  young  Princess  Sabra,  till  now  withheld 
by  her  father  from  the  fatal  lot-drawing,  is  walk- 
ing— a  charming  girlish  figure — in  the  solitude  of 
her  garden  ;  she  holds  up  her  trailing  rose-coloured 
gown  with  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  carries  a 
Httle  illuminated  missal  which  she  is  studying. 
The  second  is  the     Petition  to  the  King": — 

"...  The  frightened  people  throng-ing-  came 
About  the  palace,  and  drove  back  the  guards, 
Making  their  way  past  all  the  gates  and  wards  ; 
And  putting  chamberlains  and  marshals  by. 
Surged  round  the  very  throne  tumultuously." 

The  third,  Moritura,"  shows  the  result  of  the 
petition  ;  the  Princess  has  gone  with  her  com- 
panions to  the  strange  half  Christian  half  Pagan 
temple  where  the  lots  are  drawn,  and 

"...  pale  as  privet  blossom  is  in  June," 

her  agony  shown  only  by  the  tightening  of  her 
clasp  on  her  companion's  hand,  she  gazes  on  the 
word  Moritura  "  inscribed  on  the  paper  she  has 
drawn.  The  next  represents  The  Princess  led  to 
the  Dragon."  Then,  in  ^^Tied  to  the  Tree,"  she 
is  alone  in  the  centre  of  the  picture,  and  in  the 
distance  her  companions  are  mournfully  depart- 
ing. The  next  is  *^The  Fight"  and  shows  the 
hero,  his  lance  broken  in  the  encounter, — 

"  His  bright  face  shadowed  by  the  jaws  of  death, 
His  hair  blown  backwards  by  the  poisonous  breath," 

slaying  the  monster  with  a  final  sword -thrust, 
while  the  Princess,  freed  from  her  bonds,  kneels 
with  clasped  hands  thanking  Heaven  for  her  de- 
liverance. The  last  picture,     The  Return,"  shows 


THE  SIXTIES  77 

St.  George  leading  the  Princess  back  to  the 
palace  : — 

"  So  throug^h  the  streets  they  went,  and  quickly  spread 
News  that  the  terror  of  the  land  was  dead. 
And  folk  thronged  round  to  see  the  twain  g-o  by, 
Or  went  before  with  flowers  and  minstrelsy. 
Rejoicing-  for  the  slaying  of  their  shame."  ^ 

^^Theophilus  and  the  Angel,"  formerly  called 
*^St.  Dorothea,"  begun  about  1863,  was  exhibited 
in  1867.  the  foreground,  the  centre  of  the 

composition  is  occupied  by  a  bronze  statue  of 
Pan,  which  stands  above  a  fountain,  just  outside 
the  Law  Courts,  the  entrance  to  which  is  on  the 
left  of  the  picture.  Beyond,  in  the  centre  of  the 
open  square,  beside  the  block,  is  seen  the  execu- 
tioner at  whose  hands  Dorothea  has  just  suffered 
for  her  faith.  The  emperor  and  his  court  are 
leaving  the  stand  erected  for  the  spectacle,  and 
Dorothea's  friends  are  carrying  away  her  shrouded 
body  on  a  stretcher,  passing  on  their  way  that 
statue  of  Venus  to  which  she  had  refused  to 
sacrifice.  Theophilus  the  Protonotary,  a  heavy- 
book  under  his  arm,  is  returning  to  the  Law 
Courts  ;  he  had  met  Dorothea  on  her  way  to  her 
death,  and  had  asked  her  why  she  would  throw 
away  the  joys  of  this  life  for  one  of  which  no  man 
was  certain  ;  and  she  answering  that  she  should 
that  day  be  with  her  bridegroom  in  the  Garden  of 

^  These  pictures,  largely  repainted  in  1895,  ^^'^^'^  ex- 
hibited in  1896  at  Stephen  T.  Gooden's  gallery  in  Pall  Mall. 
Their  titles  were  supplemented  in  the  catalogue  by  quota- 
tions from  Morris's  Earthly  Paradise.  In  1897  they  were 
awarded  the  Gold  Medal  of  the  Munich  Exhibition. 


78  BURNE-JONES 

Paradise,  he  bade  her  jestingly,  as  it  was  February 
then  and  the  snow  lay  on  the  ground,  to  send  him 
some  of  the  fruits  and  roses  of  that  garden."  He 
is  thinking  of  this,  and  the  half  scornful  half 
pitying  smile  is  still  on  his  lips  as  he  looks  back 
at  the  sad  little  procession.  But  another  step 
will  bring  him  face  to  face  with  a  fair  young  angel 
who,  just  inside  the  doorway,  awaits  him  with  a 
basket  of  fruit  and  flowers,  and  the  words — My 
sister  Dorothea  sends  these  to  thee  from  the  place 
where  she  now  is."  The  legend  says  that  ponder- 
ing on  this,  Theophilus  became  converted,  and 
through  the  gate  of  martyrdom  followed  the  saint 
to  her  fair  summer  land. 

Every  detail  of  this  delightful  water-colour  is 
finished  with  the  greatest  care.  A  little  bas-relief 
runs  round  the  inner  rim  of  the  fountain  ;  another 
adorns  the  doorway  of  the  house  ;  the  little  barred 
window,  the  pavement,  all  the  architectural  details, 
as  well  as  the  delicate  tracery  of  the  bare  branches 
of  the  distant  rook-haunted  trees,  are  exquisitely 
carried  out.  The  grouping  of  the  figures,  the 
arrangement  of  the  whole  composition,  is  ex- 
tremely skilful ;  there  are  two  centres  of  interest, 
and  both  are  indispensable  to  the  representation 
of  the  miracle,  but,  by  the  skill  with  which  the 
painter  has  selected  the  moment  to  depict,  the 
two  parts  are  made  into  one  harmonious  whole. 
An  instant  later  Theophilus  would  be  confronted 
by  the  angel,  and  all  the  attention  of  the  spectator 
would  be  riveted  on  that  meeting  ;  but  the  figures 
are  so  disposed  that  the  eye,  first  attracted  by  the 
vision,  next  falls  on  Theophilus,  and  his  back- 


THE  SIXTIES  79 

ward  glance,  as  he  hesitates  one  moment  in  his 
approach,  provides  the  necessary  link  with  the 
other  scene.  The  direction  in  which  the  spectators 
in  the  middle  distance  are  moving,  and  the  line 
formed  by  their  procession,  lead  the  eye  to  the 
little  group  who  are  carrying  away  the  martyr's 
body  ;  and  the  two  girls  drawing  water  in  the 
foreground  to  the  right  admirably  balance  the 
composition  without  detracting  from  the  more 
important  personages.  The  disposition  of  the 
figures  forms  a  half-circle  ;  and  the  statue  of  Pan 
in  the  centre,  while  satisfying  the  eye  by  its 
decorative  value,  emphasises  the  heathen  char- 
acter of  the  surroundings,  and  thus  helps  in  the 
telling  of  the  story. 

In  1868,  Burne-Jones  was  made  a  full  member 
of  the  Royal  Water-colour  Society,  and,  the 
following  year,  ^^The  Wine  of  Circe"  was  ex- 
hibited,— a  picture  which  marks  a  great  advance 
in  the  overcoming  of  technical  difficulties.  All 
Burne-Jones's  feeling  for  line  and  colour,  all  his 
emotional  power,  are  revealed  in  this  wonderful 
symphony  which,  in  a  key  ranging  from  black  and 
gold  to  white,  shows  the  lithe  figure  of  the  en- 
chantress, robed  in  an  amber  mantle,  stooping  with 
rapid  panther-like  motion  from  her  golden  snake- 
encircled  throne  to  pour  the  magic  potion  into  the 
wine  jar  which  awaits  Ulysses  and  his  companions. 
Like  a  golden  spider  in  her  web  she  has  been  sit- 
ting motionless,  watching  those  three  sails  coming 
towards  her  out  of  the  infinite  blue  ;  now — 

Dusk-haired  and  gold-robed  o'er  the  golden  wine 
She  stoops  .  .  ." 


8o 


BURNE-JONES 


Rossetti  wrote  a  fine  sonnet  for  this  picture,  all 
the  accessories  of  which,  from  the  magnificent 
row  of  sunflowers  to  the  evil-looking  black 
panthers  that  come  fawning  to  the  enchantress's 
feet,  delight  the  senses  by  their  beauty,  at  the 
same  time  as  they  suggest  to  the  mind  an  un- 
canny and  evil  charm  which  forebodes  danger  to 
the  approaching  mariners.  The  fine  drawing  of 
the  hand,  which  steadily,  drop  by  drop,  pours  the 
poison  from  the  little  flask,  is  a  thing  to  be  noted  ; 
henceforth  the  perfection  of  all  the  exquisitely 
studied  hands  and  feet  of  Burne-Jones's  figures  is 
unsurpassable. 

To  1870  belongs  the  humorous  '^Love  disguised 
as  Reason,"  with  its  fair  scenery  of  gently  undu- 
lating country  and  castellated  town  reflected  in 
the  calm  lake  at  its  foot.  It  represents  two  lovely 
girls  delayed  in  their  walk  by  a  chance  meeting 
with  Master  Cupid  ;  they  listen  to  him  with 
respect  and  attention,  for  he  carries  a  ponderous 
book,  and  his  wings  are  discreetly  folded  and 
concealed  from  view  under  the  robes  of  a  learned 
doctor,  and  no  one,  unless  he  looked  very  care- 
fully, would  notice  his  bow  ;  while  his  quiver 
might  well  be  an  ink-horn,  with  pens  and  not 
arrows  projecting  from  it !  His  young  face,  half 
hidden  by  the  falling  folds  of  his  hood,  wears  an 
appearance  of  wisdom,  as,  duly  emphasising  his 
points  by  the  action  of  his  hands,  he  lays  before 
his  fair  listeners  some  eloquent  and  quite  irrefutable 
argument.  This  is  the  only  one  of  his  pictures  in 
which  Burne-Jones  has  allowed  free  play  to  that 
sense  of  humour  which  was  always  revealing  itself 


THE  SIXTIES 


8i 


both  in  his  conversation  and  in  the  innumerable 
nonsense  drawings  he  delighted  in,  drawn  for  the 
children  he  loved  and  knew,  private  fun  sent  in 
letters  to  intimate  friends,  passing  records  of  that 
ethereal  humour  which  made  him  the  most  perfect 
playfellow  in  the  world. 

The  same  year,  Phyllis  and  Demophoon  "  was 
sent  to  the  Water-colour  Society.  The  story, 
taken  from  Ovid,  tells  how  Phyllis,  amidst  her 
mourning  because  Demophoon  had  forsaken  her, 
was  turned  by  the  kind  gods  into  an  almond  tree, 
and  after,  as  he  passed  by,  consumed  with  sorrow 
for  her,  she  became  once  more  visible  to  him,  no 
less  loving  than  of  old  time ;  and  this  was  the  first 
blossoming  of  the  almond  tree."  The  representa- 
tion of  the  nude  form,  ideal  though  it  was  in  this 
poetical  rendering  of  the  classic  myth,  had  the 
misfortune  to  give  oflfence  in  some  quarters,  and 
the  picture,  after  being  hung,  was  removed  from 
its  place  in  the  exhibition.  The  artist,  naturally  in- 
dignant, withdrew  from  membership  ;  a  course  in 
which  he  was  supported  by  Sir  Frederick  Burton 
who  also  sent  in  his  resignation  ;  eighteen  years 
later,  however,  both  members  were  re-elected,  and 
the  connection  with  the  Society  was  resumed. 

Meanwhile  the  movement  originated  by  the  firm 
for  the  popularisation  of  beauty  was  taking  root, 
and  as  early  as  1864  the  shop  "  had  to  be 
enlarged.  It  was  then  that  Morris  regretfully  left 
Red  House  and  settled  wdth  the  firm  in  Queen 
Square,  Bloomsbury.  Being  on  the  spot,  and 
able  to  devote  all  his  time  and  energy  to  the  work 

^  British  Contemporary  Artists,  by  \V.  Cosmo  Monkhouse, 
G 


82 


BURNE-eJONES 


of  production,  in  which  he  had  the  continued  co- 
operation of  Burne-Jones,  Madox  Brown,  and 
Webb,  he  soon  put  the  business  on  a  prosperous 
footing.  An  important  commission  obtained  in 
1867  was  the  decoration  of  the  Green  Dining- 
room  at  South  Kensington  Museum.  For  this, 
Burne-Jones  drew  a  series  of  fourteen  figures  for 
painted  panels,  representing  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac 
and  the  Sun  and  Moon,^  and  the  stained  glass 
windows  which  were  part  of  the  scheme  were  also 
executed  from  his  designs. 

In  his  constant  work  for  the  firm,  Burne-Jones 
soon  obtained  an  extraordinary  facility  for  com- 
position. It  is  said  that  his  power  of  visualising 
the  subjects  he  had  in  his  mind  was  such  that, 
before  he  began  to  execute  a  design,  he  could 
always  see  it  upon  the  blank  paper  as  if  it  had 
been  drawn  in  lines  thereon.^  It  became  his 
custom  to  have  always  a  great  number  of  pictures 
in  hand  at  different  stages  of  completion,  working 
on  that  for  which  he  felt  in  the  mood,  then  perhaps 
putting  it  aside  till  greater  experience  had  given 
him  the  power  to  tackle  some  difficult  problem  it 
presented, — taking  it  up  again  and  carrying  it  a 
stage  further,  and  then  again  perhaps  laying  it 
aside  while  some  other  work  was  being  completed. 
It  stands  to  reason,  from  this  method  of  work,  that 
the  finished  works  of  Burne-Jones,  the  earlier 
water-colours  excepted,  do  not  lend  themselves 

^  The  final  painting  of  these  panels  from  Burne-Jones's 
desig-ns  was  done  by  Mr.  Fairfax  Murray. 

2  Preface  to  Catalogue  of  the  Burlington  Fine  Arts  Club 
Exhibition  1899,  by  W.  Cosmo  Monkhouse. 


THE  SIXTIES  83 

to  chronological  classification,  while  the  stages 
through  which  he  passed  in  his  artistic  evolution 
are  faithfully  mirrored  in  the  rapidly  executed  car- 
toons, the  dates  of  which  can  in  most  cases  be 
accurately  ascertained.  Some  of  the  first  pro- 
duced for  the  firm  had  for  their  subject  "The 
Song  of  Songs "  ;  others  designed  in  1863  for 
Lyndhurst  Church  represented  "The  Martyrdom 
of  St.  Stephen,"  "The  Battle  of  Beth-horon," 
"Elijah  and  the  Prophets  of  Baal,"  and  "The 
Deliverance  of  St.  Peter  from  Prison." 

In  all  the  cartoons  mentioned  until  now,  the 
influence  of  the  Pre-Raphaelites  and«  of  Madox 
Brown  —  the  latter  especially  in  the  Lyndhurst 
windows — can  be  distinctly  traced.  Soon,  how- 
ever, an  individual  type  asserted  itself,  a  type 
first  felt  in  the  "  Garland  Weavers  "  of  the  South 
Kensington  Museum  Dining-room,  in  the  "Days 
of  Creation"  and  the  "Shadrach,  Meshach,  and 
Abed-nego "  designed  for  Middleton  Cheney  in 
1870,  and  which  finds  its  perfect  expression  in  the 
"  Samuel  "  and  "  Timothy  "  figures  of  the  Vyner 
Memorial  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  designed  in 
1872.1 

Other  work  belonging  to  the  sixties,  and  dis- 
tinctly characteristic  of  that  period,  is  the  series 
of  drawings  executed  between  1865  and  1868  as 
illustrations  to  William  Morris's  great  cycle  of 
poems.  The  Eartlily  Paradise.  It  was  at  first 
proposed  to  bring  the  book  out  in  one  folio  volume, 
and,  if  carried  out  as  planned,  there  could  have 

^  Mr.  Aymer  Vallance  says  that  the  other  fig-ures  in  this 
window  were  designed  at  an  earlier  period. 


84  BURNE-JONES 

been  no  more  worthy  commemoration  of  a  great 
and  lifelong  collaboration,  for  it  was  to  have 
been  adorned  with  about  five  hundred  illustrations 
from  designs  by  Burne-Jones,  of  all  artists  the 
one  most  capable  of  bearing  his  friend's  thought 
company  in  its  ^' hours  of  exquisite  flight"  from 
the  world  of  to-day,  to  that  No-man's-land  of 
beauty  and  enchantment  in  which  the  imagination 
of  both  dwelt. 

Burne-Jones's  facility  for  design  has  already 
been  noted  ;  in  drawing  for  illustrations  it  often 
happened  that  he  was  not  entirely  satisfied  with 
his  first  rapid  sketch,  and  to  save  the  time 
and  labour  involved  in  repeating  the  whole  of  the 
drawing,  he  adopted  the  plan  of  tracing  the  parts 
he  wished  to  preserve  and  correcting  the  rest  on 
the  tracing  paper — then  if  not  satisfied  he  would 
trace  the  corrected  tracing."  ^  By  this  method  he 
obtained  the  utmost  precision  and  beauty  of  line, 
combined  with  that  vitality  and  tenderness  of 
touch  which  are  never  absent  from  his  slightest 
sketches.  Ruskin,  who  said  of  his  outline  that 
it  was  *^the  purest  and  quietest  that  is  possible 
to  the  pencil,"  bought  and  presented  to  the  Ruskin 
School  at  Oxford,  as  entirely  masterful,"  the 
final  tracings  of  the  seventy  Cupid  and  Psyche  " 
drawings,  together  with  those  done  a  little  later 
for  The  Hill  of  Venus, 

Drawings  for  Pygmalion  a7id  the  Image ^  and 
for  The  Ring  given  to  Veiius^  were  also  executed, 
and  a  great  number  of  the     Cupid  and  Psyche" 

1  Preface  to  Burlington  Fine  Arts  Club  Catalogue,  1899, 
by  W.  Cosmo  Monkhouse. 


THE  SIXTIES  85 

designs  were  actually  cut  in  wood,^  and  a  speci- 
men sheet  of  four  folio  pages  was  printed  at 
the  Chiswick  Press.  It  was  found,  however,  that 
the  scheme  presented  too  many  difficulties  to  be 
then  carried  out,  and  in  1868  it  was  abandoned, 
and  the  book  brought  out  in  the  ordinary  way, 
with  only  one  design,  Three  Women  playing  on 
Instruments,"  drawn  by  Burne-Jones  and  cut  in 
wood  by  William  Morris,  on  the  title-page.  Later, 
when  the  establishment  of  Morris's  famous  Kelm- 
scott  Press  would  have  made  the  great  edition 
possible,  it  was  put  aside,  while  other  works, 
among  them  the  Chaucer^  were  being  produced  ; 
and  just  as  a  prose  version  by  Morris  of  TJie  Hill 
of  Venus  was  about  to  be  printed  separately  with 
the  exquisite  designs  done  by  Burne-Jones  twenty 
years  before,  the  work  of  the  Press  was  cut  short 
by  Morris's  death.  Of  all  those  perfect  drawings 
only  one  ever  appeared  in  print,  Zephyrus  bear- 
ing away  Psyche,"  which  was  chosen  as  the 
frontispiece  for  Mr.  S.  C.  Cockerell's  history  of 
the  Kelmscott  Press, ^ — the  last  book  issued  by  it. 

From  the  time  that  he  gave  his  attention  to 
these  illustrations,  the  Cupid  and  Psyche  myth 
took  a  great  hold  on  Burne-Jones's  imagination. 
A     Zephyrus  and  Psyche"  and  a      Cupid  and 

^  Thirty-five  of  the  dcsig'ns  were  cut  by  Morris  hiniselt, 
and  nine  more  by  G.  Wardle,  (i.  F.  Campfield,  C.  I. 
Faulkner,  and  Miss  Elizabeth  Burden. 

-  A  note  by  Williani.  Morris  on  his  aims  in  founding 
the  Kelmscott  Press,  together  ivith  a  short  description  of  the 
Press  hy  S.  C.  Cocker  ell  and  an  aiinotated  list  of  the  books 
printed  thereat. 


86 


BURNE-JONES 


Psyche "  were  painted  in  1865,  and  another 
Cupid  and  Psyche'*  in  1867.  Two  versions 
of  *^Pan  and  Psyche''  were  produced  between 
1869  and  1874,  and  a  replica  in  oils  of  the  first 
Cupid  and  Psyche  "  in  1871-2  ;  while  between 
1872  and  1881  a  series  was  arranged  to  illustrate 
the  entire  story  in  a  frieze  for  the  drawing-room 
of  the  house  built  by  PhiHp  Webb  at  Palace  Green 
for  the  Earl  of  Carlisle.  A  water-colour  study  of 
the  whole  scheme  was  done  on  a  small  scale,  and 
enlargements  were  made  from  the  drawings  for 
The  Earthly  Pa^-adise  and  painted  in  the  first 
place  by  Mr.  Walter  Crane,  whose  assistance  was 
rendered  necessary  by  the  many  pressing  demands 
on  the  artist's  time  ;  these  were  afterwards  worked 
over  in  great  part  by  Burne-Jones  himself.  As 
the  conception  of  this  fine  piece  of  decorative  art 
in  reality  belongs  to  the  period  now  being  con- 
sidered, it  can  be  described  here.  The  frieze  is 
divided  into  four  sections  of  three  panels  each. 
The  first  scene  is  the  finding  of  Psyche  by  the 
god  of  Love,  when,  seeking  to  punish  her  for  the 
too  great  beauty  which  causes  men  to  neglect  the 
altars  of  Venus,  he  comes  upon  her  asleep  by  a 
fountain.  It  illustrates  the  moment  described  in 
Morris's  poem — 

And  long"  he  stood  above  her  hidden  eyes 
With  red  lips  parted  in  a  god's  surprise." 

The  next  panel  shows  a  sad  procession  es- 
corting Psyche  through  a  dreary  wilderness  to 
the  place  where  Cupid  has  caused  the  oracle  to 
order  that  she  shall  be  abandoned  to  become  the 


THE  SIXTIES  87 

bride  of  an  unknown  monster  ;  a  slight  girlish 
figure,  she  walks  alone  and  goes  to  meet  her  fate 
with  dignity — 

"Afoot  among"  her  maids  with  head  down  bent." 

The  bridal  torch  is  carried  before  her,  and  flowers 
strewn  in  her  path  ;  musicians  playing  a  dirge 
precede  and  follow  her,  and  the  cortege  is  closed 
by  her  father  and  her  sisters. 

The  next  panel  represents  in  one  picture  three 
incidents  of  the  story  :  first.  Psyche  is  seen  borne 
away  from  the  drear  rock's  brow  "  by  Zephyrus  ; 
then  asleep  on  the  ground  before  the  house  of 
gold  "  where  by  Cupid's  order  the  gentle  wind  has 
laid  her  down  ;  then  awake,  timidly  entering  the 
house. 

In  the  next  section,  the  central  panel  shows 
Psyche  listening  to  the  voice  of  Love,  who,  un- 
seen by  her,  promises  her  happiness  well  worth 
her  short-lived  pains."  On  either  side  of  this 
panel  are  represented,  first,  the  arrival  of  her 
sisters  and  her  delight  at  showing  them  her 
happiness — 

*  Sisters,'  she  said,  '  more  marvels  shall  ye  see 
When  ye  have  been  a  little  while  with  me'" — 

then  their  departure  after  the  second  visit,  in 
which  they  have  aroused  her  fears  and  curiosity 
and  given  her  the  fatal  lamp. 

The  next  section  shows  the  working  of  their 
evil  counsel.  Psyche,  holding  the  lamp,  gazes 
enraptured  on  the  vision  which  meets  her  eyes, — 
then  in  vain  she  kneels,  and  holds  out  suppli- 
cating hands  as  Love  departs  from  her.  Two 


88 


BURNE-JONES 


small  spaces  which  in  the  angle  of  the  room 
divide  this  section  from  the  preceding  one  are 
filled  with  single  figures  illustrative  of  the  lines — 

For  in  his  face  she  saw  the  thunder  nig-h," 

and 

From  out  her  sight  he  vanished  like  a  flame." 

The  hapless  Psyche's  wanderings  then  begin. 
She  is  seen  first  at  the  feet  of  Ceres,  then  of  Juno ; 
but  the  next  stages  of  her  cruel  persecution  by 
Venus  are  passed  over,  and  in  the  following 
section  she  is  seen  going  through  the  land  of 
shadows  on  her  way  to  Hades,  to  perform  her 
last  dread  task.  Carrying  Venus's  casket,  she 
passes  through  the  grey  wilderness  in  which 
snares  are  set  on  all  sides  to  cause  her  to  speak 
the  words  which  would  be  her  undoing,  but  she 
walks  through  as  though  she  were  herself  a 
shadow,  and,  like  the  dead,  pays  Charon  to  ferry 
her  across  the  Styx,  with  a  coin  placed  between 
her  lips.  Then,  sitting  high  up  in  the  boat  as  he 
rows  it  across  the  dark  green  river,  she  gazes  at 
a  vision  of  her  father  which  rises  from  the  water 
and  implores  her  to  bid  the  ferryman  take  him 
across  also.    And  though  at  his  words 

"...  the  tears  run  down  apace 
For  memory  of  the  once  familiar  face," 

she  knows  that  this  too  is  a  snare  to  compass  her 
destruction,  and  is  held  dumb  by  the  greater  love 
which  impels  her  to  the  fulfilling  of  her  task. 
This  dark  weird  panel,  with  the  fine  action  of  the 
ferryman,  the  surging  of  the  water,  the  pathetic 
speechless  figure  of  Psyche,  the  wan  ghost  of  her 


THE  SIXTIES  89 

father,  is  one  of  the  finest  passages  of  a  fine 
work. 

In  the  last  panel,  Psyche's  return  to  the  upper 
regions  is  seen  ;  in  the  distance,  while  the  boat 
leaves  the  shore,  she  is  about  to  open  the  fatal 
casket ;  then,  in  the  foreground,  she  is  seen  lying 
unconscious  on  the  hard  ground  of  rocky  Taenarus, 
while  a  dark  smoke  rises  from  the  open  box.  A 
third  scene  in  the  same  picture  shows  her  deliver- 
ance from  all  her  sorrows.  It  is  a  magnificent  vision 
of  Love,  with  great  wings  outspread,  his  drapery 
swirling  round  him  in  the  swiftness  of  his  descent, 
raising  in  his  arms  the  frail  figure  of  Psyche  who, 
scarce  recovered  from  her  swoon,  gazes  up  at  him 
with  eyes  in  which  love  and  worship  mingle  with 
fear  ;  in  the  distance  the  Phoenix,  who  had  seen 
and  pitied  her,  and  fetched  Love  to  her  rescue, 
flies  away. 

In  a  lunette  under  the  second  section,  the  con- 
summation of  the  whole  story  is  shown.  Love 
and  Psyche,  led  by  Mercury,  enter  the  presence 
of  the  gods,  who  advance  to  greet  them,  preceded 
by  Hebe  carrying  the  golden  cup  which  is  to 
bestow  on  Psyche  the  gift  of  immortality. 

The  story  is  told  throughout  with  a  warmth  of 
feeling,  an  ideality,  a  sense  of  the  hidden  meaning 
of  the  beautiful  old  myth,  which  are  far  removed 
from  the  cold  and  conventional  atmosphere  which 
generally  characterises  pictures  of  mythological 
subjects.  '^Can  these  dry  bones  live?"  is  the 
question  which  presents  itself  as  one  gazes  on 
most  of  the  soulless  representations  of  Venuses, 
Cupids,  and  Nymphs.    It  was  reserved  for  the 


go  BURNE-JONES 

two  great  masters  of  the  English  mythic  school 
of  painting  to  breathe  into  them  the  breath  of 
modern  thought  on  things  spiritual  ;  to  make 
them  speak  our  own  language,  and  to  show  that 
they  have  indeed,  now,  as  in  the  days  of  their 
birth, 

.  .  a  heart  within  blood-tinctured,  of  a  veined  humanity." 

The  drawings  for  The  Hill  of  Ve?ius  were 
executed  before  the  poem  they  were  intended  to 
illustrate  had  been  actually  written.  The  story 
is  that  which  Wagner  in  Tannhduser  treated  in 
a  way  which  varies  much  from  the  mediaeval 
original.  It  tells  how  a  certain  man  by  strange 
adventure  fell  into  the  power  of  Venus,  who  re- 
penting of  his  life  with  her,  was  fain  to  return 
to  the  world  and  amend  all,  but  might  not,  for  his 
repentance  was  rejected  of  men,  by  whomsoever 
it  was  accepted."  He  joins  a  party  of  pilgrims 
who  are  going  to  Rome,  and  begs  absolution 
from  the  Pope  ;  but  the  Pope,  when  he  hears  his 
confession,  recoils  from  him  in  horror,  with  the 
words — 

.  .  .  just  so  much  hope  I  have  of  thee 

As  on  this  dry  staff  fruit  and  flowers  to  see  !  " 

The  pilgrim  departs  in  despair  and  is  no  more 
heard  of,  but  the  next  day  it  is  found  that  the  staff 
has  blossomed,  and  the  Pope  learns  how  he  has 
erred  in  assigning  bounds  to  God's  mercy.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  the  different  aspects  under 
which  the  old  Suabian  legend  appealed  to  the 
poet  and  the  painter.    The  setting  of  the  story, 


THE  SIXTIES  91 

the  passionate  scenes  in  the  Venusberg",  and  the 
strange  conjunction  of  pagan  mythology  and 
mediaeval  Christianity  appealed  most  to  Morris. 
Burne-Jones,  on  the  other  hand,  was  more  im- 
pressed with  the  mystical  side, — the  pilgrimage 
to  Rome,  the  Pope,  and  the  miracle. 

For  Pygmalion  and  the  linage  eleven  drawings 
were  done,  and  this  subject  also  inspired  a  series 
of  four  works  painted  between  1868-79,  ^ 
small  picture  called  The  Altar  of  Hymen,"  which 
represents  Pygmalion  and  his  Bride  embracing  in 
front  of  a  lighted  altar  behind  which  sits  Venus 
enthroned  with  Cupid  between  her  knees.  Only 
two  pen-and-ink  drawings  were  done  for  The 
Ring  given  to  Venns^  the  story  of  the  man  who 

on  his  wedding-day  unwittingly  gave  his  spousal 
ring  to  Venus,  and  for  this  cause  trouble  came 
upon  him,  till  in  the  end  he  g"ot  his  ring  back 
again."  One  of  these  also  became  the  subject  of 
a  never-finished  water-colour,  in  which  the  bride- 
groom is  seen,  on  the  point  of  joining  a  group  of 
merry-making  wedding-guests,  placing  the  ring 
for  safety  on  the  finger  of  the  statue. 

The  position  Burne-Jones  had  attained  in  1870 
is  shown  by  an  article  on  his  work  which  Mr. 
S.  Colvin  wrote  that  year  in  The  Portfolio,  In  it 
he  answered  the  charges  of  affected  media^valism 
and  eccentricity  which  were  being  brought  against 
the  Pre-Raphaelite  movement,  explained  the 
change  which  had  come  over  its  spirit  in  its 
transition  from  sympathy  with  the  religious  as- 
pirations of  early  art  to  sympathy  with  its 
aesthetic  temper,  and  showed  how  the  progress 


92  BURNE-JONES 

of  the  school,  both  in  poetry  and  painting,  had 
proved  that  their  art  was  ^'  no  sickly  exotic,  but  a 
robust  growth  suited  to  the  air  of  the  times,"  and 
that  ^*for  all  their  sympathy  with  the  archaic 
manner  of  expression,  the  things  they  had  to 
express  were  no  whit  archaic,  but  modern,  but 
classical,  but  perennial,  and  lovely  for  one  genera- 
tion no  less  than  for  another."  For  poetry,"  he 
said,  *Hhis  has  been  achieved  by  Mr.  Morris.  .  .  . 
And  the  work  done  by  Morris  has  its  pictorial 
analogue  in  the  work  done  by  Mr.  Jones.  To 
charge  this  with  mediaevalism  or  archaic  quaint- 
ness  to-day  is  mere  ineptitude.  It  is  work,  though 
far  enough  from  perfect,  still  catholic  and  central 
in  character  ;  work  inspired  by  Michel  Angelo  and 
Phidias  just  as  much  as  by  the  early  purists  of 
Italy,  by  Homer  just  as  much  as  by  Chaucer  and 
the  romance  writers  of  the  middle  age."  He 
spoke  of  Burne-Jones's  exquisite  feeling  for  nature, 
— "  He  paints  the  quintessence  of  nature  when 
nature  is  loveliest," — and,  comparing  his  work  with 
that  of  other  painters,  said  that  it  was  to  theirs, 
what  singing  is  to  common  talk,  what  poetry  is 
to  prose."  A  flower  painted  by  him,"  he  con- 
tinued, *^is  like  a  flower  described  by  Keats,  all 
the  fragrance  and  colour  and  purity  of  it  are 
caught  and  concentrated  in  the  magic  pencil 
strokes."  Then,  while  admitting  that  in  spite  of 
gradual  acquirement  of  power  in  the  drawing  of 
the  figure,  Burne-Jones  showed  a  leaning  towards 
a  certain  conventional  adaptation  of  nature — as, 
for  instance,  an  elongation  sometimes  of  the 
nether  limbs  that  has  more  of  grace  than  of  truth 


THE  SIXTIES  93 

in  it" — Mr.  Colvin  concluded: — *^the  sum  of  the 
whole  matter  is  this,  that  in  most  of  the  works  as 
yet  produced  by  Mr.  Burne-Jones  there  have  been 
faults  within  the  correction  of  any  tyro,  and  that  in 
all  of  them  there  have  been  beauties  beyond  the 
attainment  of  any  modern  master  but  himself." 


CHAPTER  VI 


FAME 
1870-1878 

Move  to  *'The  Grange" — Mode  of  life — Silent  period — *'Love 
among  the  Ruins"  and  *'  The  Hesperides" — Opening  of  the 
Grosvenor  Gallery^' 'The  Mirror  of  Venus" — "The  Beguil- 
ing of  Merlin"— "The  Days  of  Creation "—" Fides "— 
"  Spes"— "  Caritas  "— "  Temperantia  "— "  The  Seasons  "— 
"Day"  and  "Night"— "Luna"— "Perseus  and  the  Graise" 
— "Laus  Veneris"— "Le  Chant  d'Amour  "— "  Pan  and 
Psyche" — Other  works  of  this  period — Cartoons — "The 
Masque  of  Cupid" — Subjects  from  The  Romaimt  of  the  Rose 
— Illustrations  for  The  Aineid  and  The  Story  of  Orpheus — 
The  Graham  Piano. 

F^ROM  Great  Russell  Street,  Burne-Jones  had 
moved  to  Kensington  Square,  and  in  1867  he 
finally  settled  at  **The  Grange," — the  old  house 
in  West  Kensington  where  Richardson  wrote  his 
novels  and  entertained  his  famous  friends.  Here, 
with  intervals  spent  at  the  country-house  taken 
later  at  Rottingdean,  he  lived  for  the  rest  of  his 
life,  and,  during  those  thirty  years,  nothing  but 
severe  illness  was  ever  allowed  to  interrupt  his 
work.  To  him,  the  starting  of  a  new  picture  was 
always  ^^a  sufficient  holiday,"  and  in  his  home 
life  and  the  companionship  of  his  intimate  friends 
he  found  all  the  relaxation  he  required.  He  hated 
railway  journeys,  and  for  that  reason  did  not 

94 


FAME  95 

travel;^  and  although  his  wit  and  humour,  his 
entire  and  admirable  loveableness,"  and  his  in- 
tellectual gifts,  made  him  a  favourite  wherever 
he  went,  he  cared  little  for  society  or  for  anything 
which  took  his  time  and  thoughts  from  his  work. 
Absorbed  in  the  production  of  larger  and  more 
highly  finished  pictures  than  hitherto,  and  caring 
only  to  please  that  most  exacting  of  all  his  critics 
which  was  himself,  increasingly  busy,  too,  with 
cartoons  and  illustrations  for  Morris,  he  ceased 
awhile  from  exhibiting,  and,  during  the  next 
seven  years,  the  general  public  almost  forgot  his 
existence.  Only  once,  when  in  1873  ^^^^  pictures 
were  sent  to  the  Dudley  Gallery,  was  the  silence 
of  this  period  broken.  These  were  the  now 
famous  ^*Love  among  the  Ruins"  and  *'The 
Hesperides." 

**Love  among  the  Ruins,"  with  its  beautiful 
colouring,  fine  composition  and  poetic  charm,  is 
one  of  Burne-Jones's  greatest  achievements,  and 
one  of  those  in  which  his  personality  found  its 
fullest  expression.  It  has  been  said  that  the  feel- 
ing with  which  this  picture  is  regarded  can  almost 
be  taken  as  a  test  of  the  spectator's  capacity  for 
understanding  and  enjoying  his  work.  It  repre- 
sents two  lovers  clinging  together  among  the 
shattered  columns  of  a  palace  ;  all  around  is  ruin, 
desolation,  a  sense  of  departed  glories,  and  a 
haunting  loneliness  as  of  the  tomb  ;  it  is  a  strange 

^  Burne-Jones's  only  journey  abroad,  after  the  two  already 
rnentioned,  was  in  the  springy  of  1873,  when  he  spent  a  fort- 
night in  Florence  and  Siena  with  Morris,  afterwards  going 
on  to  Rome  for  a  few  days. 


96  BURNE-JONES 

meeting-place,  and  there  is  dread  in  the  woman^s 
eyes  as  they  question— 

O  Love  !    How  came  we  here  ? 

What  do  we  m  this  land  of  death  and  fear  ?  " 

But  the  question  dies  on  her  lips  before  it  is 
asked  as  it  finds  its  answer  in  the  clasp  of  loving- 
hands. 

Ages  past  the  soul  existed, 
Here  an  ag-e  'tis  resting  merely, 
And  hence  fleets  again  for  ages, 
While  the  true  end,  sole  and  single, 
It  stops  here  for  is,  this  love-way. 
With  some  other  soul  to  mingle." 

^  These  lines  of  Browning's,  with  their  sugges- 
tion of  the  crumbling  past,  the  ^'little  strip  of  time'' 
which  is  the  present,  the  mysterious  eternity 
which  is  to  come,  seem  perfectly  to  express 
the  artist's  meaning.  As  in  the  Cupid  and  Psyche 
myth,  he  has  pictured  here  the  indestructibility 
of  the  soul,  and  its  salvation  through  the  power 
of  love.  The  palaces  and  temples  in  which  it 
sought  satisfaction  crumble  around  it,  and  their 
mouldering  fragments  disappear  beneath  the  wild 
rose  and  the  harebell ;  that  which  has  been  the 
solace  of  one  age  becomes  the  gloom  and  desola- 
tion of  the  next,  but  the  answer  to  ''the  riddle  of 
the  painful  earth  "  is  found  when  at  last 

L'amor  che  move  il  sole  e  I'altre  stelle  " 
dawns  upon  the  soul.^ 

1  The  first  idea  of  this  picture  is  to  be  found  in  a  little 
water-colour  done  about  1872  for  Morris's  manuscript  copy 
of  Omar  Khayyam, 


FAME  97 

*'Love  among  the  Ruins"  was  exhibited  in 
Birmingham  in  1885,  in  Manchester  in  1887,  in 
the  Guildhall  in  1892,  and  at  the  New  Gallery 
in  1892-3,  whence  it  was  sent  to  the  Paris  Exhibi- 
tion of  the  Champ  de  Mars.  A  sad  fate  awaited 
it.  It  was  entrusted  for  reproduction  to  a  firm 
of  art  publishers,  and,  its  texture  having  been 
mistaken  for  oils,  it  was  covered,  for  photographic 
purposes  apparently,  with  white  of  egg  ;  as  it 
was  a  water-colour,  the  effect  was  disastrous. 
Sir  Philip  Burne-Jones  says,  in  words  which  con- 
tain a  whole  revelation  of  his  father's  character  : 

He  showed  little  outward  sign  of  the  distress 
which  I  know  he  felt  at  the  destruction  of  his 
work,  but  hastened  back  to  London,  (it  was  during 
one  of  his  brief  so-called  holidays  at  Rotting- 
dean),  and  within  twenty-four  hours  of  the  receipt 
of  the  news,  had,  with  his  own  hands,  measured  the 
ruined  picture,  and  written  to  his  colourman  for 
a  new  canvas  of  the  same  size,  upon  which,  as 
soon  as  it  arrived,  he  set  to  work  in  oil,  and 
never  rested  till  he  had  reproduced  the  lost  picture 
in  the  more  permanent  medium. 

*^The  Hesperides  "  represents  the  daughters  of 
Hesperus  guarding,  with  the  Dragon,  the  golden 
apples  of  the  tree  which  Ge,  (the  Earth),  had  given 
to  Hera  on  her  marriage  with  Zeus.  There  is  an 
early  poem  of  Tennyson's,  called  The  Hcspc rides, 
which  appeared  only  in  his  1830  volume,  and 
which  Burne-Jones  had  read  with  great  delight. 

^  The  Magazine  of  Art,  1900.  Notes  on  sonic  unfinished 
works  of  Sir  Edwiird  Burne-Jones,  Bart.,  by  Sir  Philip 
Burne-Jones,  Bart. 


H 


98  BURNE-JONES 

The  subjects  of  his  pictures  generally  grew  from 
vague  impressions  left  by  forgotten  poems,"  and 
possibly  this  one  may  have  owed  its  origin  to  some 
lingering  echo  in  his  mind  of  that  Song  of  the 
Tree,"  which,  with  their  father  Hesperus  shining 
above  them,  the  maidens  sing  as  they 

Watch  it  warily 
Singing-  airily 

Standing  about  the  charmed  root." 

Here,  in  the  secluded  rose-garden,  in  the  midst  of 
the  dense  forest,  clothed  in  long  red  robes  which 
cling  to  them  as  Botticelli's  draperies  cling  to  his 
moving  figures,  they  weave  with  a  rhythmic  mo- 
tion their  mystic  dance  around  the  tree.  In  the 
magic  circle  in  which  Past,  Present  and  Future  are 
for  ever  blending,  these  guardians  of  the  sacred 
mysteries  are  symbolical  of  what  woman,  in  mystic 
art,  always  represents — the  Soul,  Psyche,"  or 
Divine  Wisdom,  Sophia." 

Both  pictures  are  typical  of  Burne-Jones's  inter- 
pretation of  womanhood.  Like  Simon  Ballanche, 
he  would  have  answered  the  question  QiCest-ce 
que  la  femme?^^  Oest  ViJiitiatioiiy  Thus  he 
understood  her  mission,  and  loved  to  paint  her, 
fair  and  young  and  with  holy  eyes,  light-hearted 
as  these  light-footed  maidens,  or  serenely  grave 
as  the  lady  of  the  Chant  d'Amour,"  or  with  the 
remote  and  pensive  beauty  of  the  Beggar-Maid  ; 
always — with  a  few  notable  exceptions — the  sibyl 
to  whom  all  wisdom  is  revealed,  the  interpreter, 
the  priestess,  the  one  at  whose  bare  feet  all  the 
treasures  of  the  world  are  not  worthy  to  be  laid. 


THE  HESI'EKIDES 


FAME  99 

Sometimes  indeed,  he  shows  her  in  another  role  ^ 
but  even  then  she  is  the  possessor  of  powers  be- 
yond the  reach  of  mere  human  intellect — a  witch, 
a  sorceress,  a  soul  fallen  through  commerce  with 
the  powers  of  evil  to  a  deeper  depth  than  is  possible 
to  man,  and  become  his  betrayer  and  seducer  ; 
then  indeed  there  is  no  hope  for  even  the  wisest 
of  men,  of  whom  Merlin — 

"  .  .  .  lost  to  life  and  use  and  name  and  fame 
is  the  type. 

These  two  works  passed  almost  unnoticed. 
Time  went  by,  and  thoug"h  all  over  the  country 
innumerable  churches  were  being-  made  beautiful 
by  the  w^indows  Burne-Jones  designed,  these  were 
always  executed  by  Morris  &  Co.,"  and  the 
artist's  name  did  not  appear.  Therefore  the  world 
was  little  prepared  for  the  surprise  which  awaited 
it  when,  on  the  30th  of  April  1877,  the  doors  of 
the  Grosvenor  Gallery  were  first  opened,  and  the 
full  blaze  of  his  genius  was  revealed  in  eight 
superb  pictures. 

A  month  before  this  date,  a  letter  from  Rossetti 
had  appeared  in  T/ic  Times,  in  which,  writing  011 
the  subject  of  the  projected  exhibition,  he  said  : 
"Your  scheme  must  succeed  were  it  but  for  one 
name  associated  with  it — that  of  Burne-Jones—  a 
name  representing  the  loveliest  art  we  have." 
Round  this  art,  so  original,  so  different  from  any- 
thing ever  produced  in  modern  times,  a  wild  storm 
of  conflicting  opinions  arose.  Some  endorsed 
Rossetti's  verdict,  and  to  them  on  that  day  a  new 
world  of  beauty  was  revealed,  that  world  inlo 


lOO 


BURNE-JONES 


which  Swinburne,  in  his  exquisite  Dedication^ 
had  pleaded  that  his  verses  might  find  admis- 
sion : — 

"  In  their  wing's  thoug-h  the  sea-wind  yet  quivers, 
Will  you  spare  not  a  space  for  them  there, 
Made  green  with  the  running  of  rivers 
And  gracious  with  temperate  air ; 
In  the  fields  and  the  turreted  cities, 
That  cover  from  sunshine  and  rain 
Fair  passions  and  bountiful  pities 
And  loves  without  stain  ? 

In  a  land  of  clear  colours  and  stories, 

In  a  region  of  shadowless  hours. 

Where  earth  has  a  garment  of  g'lories 

And  a  murmur  of  musical  flowers  ; 

In  woods  where  the  spring  half  uncovers 

The  flush  of  her  amorous  face 

By  the  waters  that  listen  for  lovers. 

For  these  is  there  place  ? 


Though  the  world  of  your  hands  be  more  gracious 

And  lovelier  in  lordship  of  things, 

Clothed  round  by  sweet  art  with  the  spacious 

Warm  heaven  of  her  imminent  wings, 

Let  them  enter,  unfledged  and  nigh  fainting. 

For  the  love  of  old  loves  and  lost  times  ; 

And  receive  in  your  palace  of  painting- 

This  revel  of  rhymes." 

On  minds  of  another  class,  a  totally  different 
impression  was  produced,  and  men  who  had  not 
the  faintest  conception  of  the  artist's  aims,  de- 
nounced his  works  as  the  outcome  of  a  morbid 
imagination,  decadent,  effeminate  and  pessimistic. 


^  Poems  and  Ballads.    Swinburne,  1866. 


THE  REGUILING  OF  MERLIN 


FAME 


lOI 


The  pictures  which  caused  so  great  a  sensation 
were  The  Mirror  of  Venus,"  The  Beguiling-  of 
Merlin,"  The  Days  of  Creation,"  Fides," 
^*Spes,"  ^^Temperantia,"  '^A  Sibyl"  and  A 
Knight." 

**The  Mirror  of  Venus  "  represents  a  group  of 
nine  girls,  who,  wandering  in  a  Peruginesque 
landscape,  have  come  upon  a  forget-me-not-sur- 
rounded pool  in  whose  clear  surface,  between  the 
water-lily  leaves,  they  behold  their  own  beauty. 
Surprised  and  delighted,  they  are  absorbed  in 
self-contemplation, — all  but  two,  who,  gazing  in 
the  limpid  depths,  have  seen,  not  themselves,  but 
the  reflection  of  the  Goddess  of  Beauty  herself, 
and,  looking  upwards  in  speechless  adoration,  see 
her  standing  among  them,  tall,  stately,  and  gentle 
as  a  Madonna. 

The  Beguiling  of  Merlin  "  had  been  worked 
on  at  intervals  between  1870  and  1872,  then 
abandoned,  and  recommenced  on  a  fresh  canvas 
about  1873.^  While  in  the  earlier  Merlin  and 
Nimue "  Burne-Jones  followed  the  story  of  the 
enchanter's  death  given  in  the  Morte  (V Arthur^ 
this  one,  like  Tennyson's  poem,  is  taken  from 
another  version  of  the  legend  which  tells  how  the 
wily  Vivien  (or  Nimuo)  imprisoned  the  magician 
in  a  tree  by  the  power  of  the  spell  she  had  made 
him  reveal  to  her.  Tall  and  lithe,  a  beautiful 
snake-like  being,  her  robe  coiled  round  her  in  a 

^  The  first  version,  with  its  exquisitely  painted  may- 
blossom,  can  be  seen  in  the  little  g-allcry  in  the  Garden 
Studio  of  "The  Gran^^e,"  to  which  the  public  is  admitted 
on  Saturday  and  Sunday  afternoons. 


102 


BURNE-JONES 


curious  intricate  way,  she  glides  from  her  victim, 
carrying-  the  stolen  book.  The  subject  is  treated 
with  a  dramatic  power  which  combines  the  most 
intense  emotion  with  the  calmest  action.  The 
criticism  has  been  made  that  there  is  no  sug- 
gestion in  the  figure  of  Merlin  of  the  mighty 
wizard, — but  it  must  be  taken  into  consideration 
that  he  is  here  depicted  when  the  vampire-woman 
has  reduced  the  strength  of  his  manhood  to 
nothingness,  and  that  he  is  bound  and  im- 
prisoned by  invisible  means  ;  his  glazed  eyes, 
feebly  smiling  mouth,  and  general  limpness  of 
attitude  are  necessary  to  express  this  utter  help- 
lessness. All  about  the  scene  the  hawthorn 
blossom  spreads  its  beauty,  opposing  its  pure 
whiteness  to  the  warm  and  glowing  tones  of 
the  rest  of  the  picture.^ 

^^The  Days  of  Creation  "  was  a  subject  which 
had  occupied  B.urne-Jones's  thoughts  for  many 
years.    He  had  first  represented  it  in  the  small 

^  The  following  —  from  The  Romance  of  Merlin  —  was 
given  as  the  explanation  of  the  picture  in  the  New  Gallery 
Catalogue  :  ''It  fell  on  a  day  that  they  went  through  the 
forest  that  is  called  the  Forest  of  Broceliande,  and  found  a 
bush  that  was  fair  and  high,  of  white  hawthorn,  full  of 
flowers,  and  there  they  sat  in  the  shadows  And  Merlin  fell 
in  sleep  ;  and  when  she  felt  he  was  in  sleep  she  arose  softly 
and  began  her  enchantments,  such  as  Merlin  had  taught 
her,  and  made  the  ring  nine  times  and  nine  times  her 
enchantments.  .  .  .  And  then  he  looked  about  him,  and  to 
him  seemed  he  was  in  the  fairest  tower  of  the  world  and 
the  most  strong- ;  neither  of  iron  was  it  fashioned,  nor  steel, 
nor  timber,  nor  of  stone,  but  of  the  air  without  any  other 
thing  ;  and  in  sooth  so  strong  it  is  that  it  may  never  be 
undone  while  the  world  endureth." 


FAME  103 

set  of  water-colours  already  mentioned,  in  which 
no  symbolism  was  attempted,  and  each  stage  of 
creation  was  depicted  in  a  conventional  way  and 
as  simply  as  possible.  In  1873  designed  for 
the  church  of  Middleton  Cheney  a  window,  re- 
peated in  1874  for  Tam worth,  the  subject  of  which 
was  the  vision  seen  by  the  three  Children  of 
Israel  in  the  fiery  furnace,  when,  according  to 
tradition,  all  the  works  of  creation  passed  before 
their  eyes,  glorifying  God.  The  figures  of  Shad- 
rach,  Meshach,  and  Abed-nego^  occupy  the  lower 
lights,  and  the  six  upper  ones  are  filled  by 
glorious  figures  of  angels,  supporting  in  their 
hands  globes  in  each  of  which,  as  in  a  crystal, 
is  seen  the  creation  of  the  day  represented.  As 
each  new  day  reveals  a  fresh  work,  the  angel  of 
the  preceding  one  gives  place  to  the  new-comer,  the 
flame  on  whose  forehead  symbolises  the  creative 
energy,  so  that,  while  the  first  light  shows  but  one 
figure,  the  last  includes  the  six,  and  beside  these 
the  angel  of  the  seventh  day  is  shown,  crowned 
with  myrtle  and  sitting  at  rest  among  the  wild 
roses,  playing  on  a  seven -stringed  instrument. 
The  working  out  of  these  cartoons  suggested  their 
execution  as  a  set  of  six  pictures  which,  framed 
together,  should  form  one  harmonious  whole, 
and  this  was  the  work  now  exhibited,  a  work  as 
unique  in  conception  as  in  execution,  in  which  the 
balance  of  the  various  parts  is  exquisitely  main- 
tained, while  the  colour,  passing  from  the  almost 
neutral  tints  of  the  first  day  to  the  glory  of  the 
last,  through  an  infinitely  delicate  gradation  of 

^  The  cartoons  for  the  figures  are  at  the  Garden  Studio. 


104  BURNE-JONES 

purples,  blues  and  greens  slightly  relieved  with 
gold,  is  an  absolute  triumph. 

Fides  "  is  a  stately  figure  standing  in  a 
niche.  She  gazes  intently  on  the  steady  flame 
burning  from  the  lamp  she  bears  in  her  right 
hand,  while  the  left,  round  the  wrist  of  which  is 
coiled  the  serpent  of  divine  wisdom,  hangs  at  her 
side  holding  an  evergreen  branch.  At  her  feet 
writhes  the  dragon  of  doubt,  in  flames  powerless 
to  hurt  her.  Above  her  head,  surmounting  the 
columns  of  the  niche,  figures  of  infants  are  repre- 
sented playing  with  beads  strung  on  a  thread, 
symbolising  the  many  forms  of  religion  with 
which  the  children  of  men  occupy  themselves, 
and  the  great  current  of  faith  which  runs  through 
and  unites  them  all. 

*^Spes"  is  a  pendant  to  Fides."  She  is 
represented  by  a  girl  who,  chained  by  the  ankles 
to  her  prison-cell,  and  bearing  in  one  hand  the 
apple  blossom  which  signifies  the  eternal  spring- 
time of  hope,  rises  on  tiptoe  to  touch  with  the 
other  the  blue  mystery  of  heaven  w^hich  her  rapt 
gaze  sees  descending  upon  her  captivity.  While 
the  colouring  of  Fides  "  is  gold  and  orange-red 
relieved  with  white,  Spes  "  is  a  glowing  harmony 
of  greens  and  blues. 

The  third  Christian  virtue,  Caritas,"  painted 
some  years  before,  was  not  exhibited  till  much 
later.  It  is  a  fine  composition,  rich  and  full  in 
tone,  of  a  woman  carrying  two  children  in  her 
arms  while  others  cluster  about  her  knees,  seek- 
ing shelter  in  the  folds  of  her  ample  draperies. 

Temperantia "  is  represented   by  a  woman 


CAKITAS 


FAME  105 

quenching  the  flames  of  desire  with  water  from 
an  uplifted  urn.  The  character  of  the  drapery 
with  its  rippHng  folds  is  in  strong  contrast  to  that 
of  the  earlier  pictures. 

The  works  exhibited  the  following  year  were 
a  set  of  six  water-colours  representing  *'The 
Seasons,"  Day,"  and  Night  a  small  oil- 
painting  called  '^Luna";  Perseus  and  the 
Graiae  "  in  gold  and  silver  gesso  ;  and  the  three 
famous  pictures,  "Laus  Veneris,"  "  Le  Chant 
d'Amour,"  and     Pan  and  Psyche." 

For  each  of  the  six  water-colours  Morris  had 
composed  a  quatrain  which  was  inscribed  at  the 
base  of  the  picture.  **The  Seasons"  were  sym- 
bolised by  four  women  standing  in  quiet  curtained 
recesses  on  the  edge  of  still  fountains  :  ^'  Spring  " 
in  pale  green,  gentle  and  dreamy  : — 

Spring-  am  I,  too  soft  of  heart 
Much  to  speak  ere  I  depart. 
Ask  the  Summer  tide  to  prove 
The  abundance  of  my  love." 

Summer  "  undoing  her  soft  draperies  to  bathe 
in  the  limpid  water  : — 

"  Summer  looked  for  long"  am  I, 
Much  shall  change  or  ere  I  die. 
Prythee  take  it  not  amiss 
Though  I  weary  thee  with  bliss." 

These  six  pictures  belonging  to  an  earlier  period  (they 
were  painted  between  1869-71),  were  lent  for  exhibition  by 
Mr.  Leyland.  Their  chief  interest  lies  in  the  way  they  show, 
by  comparison  with  the  single-figure  pictures  of  1877,  the 
immense  ground  gained  about  this  time  in  individual  as  well 
as  in  technical  expression. 


io6  BURNE-JONES 

Autumn/'  in  deep  crimson,  sad  and  weary  : — 

"  Laden  Autumn  here  I  stand 
Worn  of  heart  and  weak  of  hand  ; 
Noug-ht  but  rest  seems  good  to  me, 
Speak  the  word  that  sets  me  free." 

Winter,"  the  most  beautiful  of  the  four,  calm 
and  serene,  garbed  as  a  nun  in  black  and  white, 
stands  absorbed  in  a  book  she  holds  in  one  hand 
while  she  warms  the  other  at  the  fire  which  burns 
beside  her  : — 

I  am  Winter  that  doth  keep 
Longing-  safe  amidst  of  sleep  ; 
Who  shall  say  if  I  were  dead 
What  should  be  remembered." 

Day  "  was  represented  by  a  youth  with  lighted 
torch,  standing  in  an  open  doorway  through 
which  is  seen  a  castellated  town,  and  calling  on 
the  world  to  awake  : — 

"  I  am  Day,  I  bring  again 
Life  and  glory,  love  and  pain. 
Awake,  arise,  from  death  to  death 
Through  me  the  world's  tale  quickeneth." 

Night"  is  a  sad-faced  woman  with  smoking 
torch  reversed,  gently  closing  the  door  on  the 
restless  sea  without : — 

I  am  Night,  I  bring  again 
Hope  of  pleasure,  rest  from  pain  ; 
Thought  unsaid  'twixt  life  and  death 
My  fruitful  silence  quickeneth." 

In  Luna,"  the  crescent  moon  is  suggested  by 
a  woman's  figure,  floating,  veiled  and  mysterious, 
over  the  misty  globe. 


FAME  107 

Perseus  and  the  Graiae  "  was  the  first  of  a 
series  designed  for  Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour's  drawing- 
room  in  Carlton  Gardens.  It  was  to  consist  of 
ten  designs  executed  some  in  oils  and  others  in 
gold  and  silver  gesso  on  oak.  Three  small  sets 
of  water-colours  showing  the  original  scheme, 
and  from  which  were  developed  both  the  water- 
colour  cartoons  belonging  to  Sir  Alexander  Hen- 
derson and  Mr.  Balfour's  oil-paintings,  can  be 
seen  at  the  Garden  Studio.  "  Perseus  and  the 
Graiae,"  in  gesso,  was  the  central  subject  of  the 
first  set,  and  here  the  artist  broke  absolutely 
fresh  ground,  both  in  the  subject,  which,  though 
suggested  by  the  writings  of  the  old  mytho- 
graphers,  had  never  received  pictorial  treatment, 
and  in  the  originality  of  the  process  he  invented 
for  it.  The  three  sisters  of  the  Gorgons  are 
represented  groping  blindly  for  the  eye  which 
Perseus,  bending  above  them,  has  snatched  for 
the  purpose  of  forcing  them  to  reveal  to  him  the 
w^hereabouts  of  the  sea-nymphs.  The  figure  of 
the  hero  in  shining  silver  armour,  those  of  the 
gold-draped  crouching  women  with  their  extended 
arms  and  flowing  robes,  stand  out  in  very  low 
and  beautifully  modelled  relief  upon  the  ground 
of  light  oak.  The  heads,  hands,  and  feet  are 
painted  in  a  thin  monochrome  which  blends  ad- 
mirably with  the  tones  of  the  metal  and  the  wood. 
The  upper  part  of  the  panel  is  filled  by  a  Latin 
inscription  in  gold  letters.  It  is  diflicult  to  give  in 
words  any  idea  of  the  combined  richness  and  sim- 
plicity of  effect  attained  in  this  exquisite  work. 
**Laus  Veneris,"  though  not  an  illustration  of 


io8  BURNE-JONES 

Swinburne's  poem  of  that  name,  breathes  the 
spirit  of  that  ^'bitter  love  "  which  **is  sorrow  in 
all  lands,"  of  which  the  poet  sang.  It  represents 
a  weary  queen,  whose  crown  is  too  heavy  for  her 
brow,  sitting,  pale  as  death,  in  a  flame-coloured 
robe,  listening  to  the  song  of  her  five  hand- 
maidens, while  outside  in  the  sunshine  knights  go 
riding  by.  The  key  to  the  meaning  of  the  picture 
is  supplied  by  the  tapestry  background  in  which 
Venus  is  seen  on  her  wing-borne  chariot,  accom- 
panied by  Love,  slaying  with  his  pitiless  arrows 
all  he  meets.  Seventeen  years  before,  a  small 
water-colour  of  the  picture  had  been  executed, 
and  though  the  arrangement  and  the  scheme  of 
colour  are  the  same,  the  technical  power  and 
magnificent  flow  of  line  now  revealed,  had  not  at 
that  time  been  attained. 

Another  picture,  which  also  showed,  by  com- 
parison with  an  early  water-colour  of  the  same 
subject,  how  completely  the  artist  had  now  over- 
come the  difficulties  of  his  first  period,  was  Le 
Chant  d'Amour,"  which  bore  as  sub-title  the  refrain 
of  an  old  Breton  song — 

*'  H^las,  je  sais  un  chant  d'amour 
Triste  ou  g-ai,  tour  k  tour." 

The  subject  is  a  favourite  one  of  the  master's  — 
the  perpetual  homage  rendered  by  strength  to 
pure  womanhood.  There  is  no  story,"  says  M. 
de  la  Sizeranne,  who  has  nothing  but  praise  for 
this  exquisite  work,  there  is  nothing  to  guess, 
but  everything  to  feel  ;  the  story  here  is  the  life  of 
two  hearts  and  a  little  air  stirred  by  waves  of 


FAME  109 

sound."  The  scene  is  on  a  flower-bordered  ter- 
race, where,  in  the  evening"  light,  a  girl,  kneeling 
on  a  cushion,  plays  on  a  little  organ  of  the  kind 
sometimes  seen  in  early  Italian  paintings.  Beside 
her,  his  back  to  the  spectator,  his  head  turned 
towards  the  lady,  a  steel-clad  knight  sits  on  the 
ground  listening.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
picture,  with  gentle  slow  motion,  the  god  of 
Passion,  myrtle-crowned  and  crimson-robed,  no 
longer  the  slayer,  but  reduced  to  happy  subjection, 
kneels  with  closed  eyes  and  folded  wings,  and 
gently  works  the  bellows.  Beyond  the  group  the 
evening-  light  falls  softly  on  the  sheep  in  the  quiet 
meadow,  and  in  the  background  is  seen  a  town 
with  walls  and  castles,  while  shafts  of  light 
streaming  from  the  windows  of  a  sacred  building 
lead  the  eye  upwards  to  her  from  whom  the  all- 
pervading  harmony  is  radiating.  Above  is  a 
narrow  line  of  sky, — just  enough  to  give  the 
feeling  of  open  air,  of  space  and  infinity,  not 
enough  to  let  the  mind  wander  away  from  the 
subject.  ^'  The  attitudes  of  the  three  figures," 
says  the  critic  above  quoted,  different  enough 
to  complete  each  other,  similar  enough  for  unity, 
tend  towards  that  classic  and  Latin  synthesis 
which  can  indeed  be  scorned  in  theory,  but  towards 
which  in  examining  all  fine  works,  one  finds  they 
have  reverted.  The  pyramid  is  replaced  on  its 
base.  Whichever  way  the  gaze  directs  itself  the 
lines  bring  it  back  to  the  centre  and  lead  it  up  to 
the  face  of  the  immortal  musician,  to  those  lips 
which  are  about  to  part,  to  that  melody  which  is 
unheard,  but  which  fills  everything  like  the  in- 


I  lO 


BURNE-JONES 


visible  bell  in  the  Angelus  of  Millet,  to  that 
harmony  which  one  feels  in  every  line  and  form 
of  this  vision,  to  the  song  of  love.'' 

Pan  and  Psyche,"  with  its  vague  reminiscences 
of  Piero  di  Cosimo,  is  another  example  of  the 
spiritual  quality  with  which  Burne-Jones  knew 
how  to  interpret  the  fabulous  tales  of  old,  the 
myths  in  which  the  human  soul,  ever  the  same 
through  all  the  ages,  has  embodied  its  deepest 
thoughts  and  aspirations.  Whatever  I  do  in 
Art,"  Burne-Jones  once  said,  even  if  I  deal  with 
Greek  or  Norse  legend,  I  treat  it  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Celt  "  ;  and  it  is  this  Celtic  insight  into  the 
mysteries  of  life,  united  to  his  wide  scholarship, 
which  enabled  him  to  make  the  old  legends  living 
to  us,  proving  indeed  that  no  form  is  obsolete, 
no  subject  out  of  date,  if  the  right  man  be  there 
to  rehandle  it."  Psyche,  in  despair  at  the  loss  of 
Cupid,  has  tried  to  drown  herself,  but  in  vain,  for 
the  river,  like  all  nature,  is  bent  on  furthering  her 
quest,  and  it  gently  carries  her  into  the  presence 
of  the  very  god  of  Nature  himself,  who,  kneeling 
on  a  rock  and  looking  tenderly  down  at  her, 
places  his  hand  on  her  forehead  as  she  gazes  up 
into  his  face.  Looking  at  this  picture  one  feels 
the  artist's  thought  was  that  of  the  poet — 

.  .  nor  soul  helps  flesh  more,  now,  than  flesh  helps  soul." 

These  pictures  produced  as  great  a  sensation 
as  those  of  the  preceding  year,  and  while  The 
Times  praised  the  direct  and  determined  protest  " 
of  Burne-Jones's  art  against  the  coarser  ten- 
dencies and  vulgarities  of  the  time, "and  described 


FAME 


him  as  painter  who  can  walk  in  the  ways  of 
the  earlier  Renaissance  with  so  stately  and  as- 
sured a  step,  and  with  so  much  passion  and 
fervour  of  imag-ination,  as  well  as  such  splendid 
mastery  of  colour,"  other  critics  saw  only  a  further 
opportunity  for  angry  or  contemptuous  ridicule. 
It  is  amusing*,  after  all  these  years  which  have  so 
completely  reversed  the  verdict  of  that  day,  to 
find,  in  the  pages  of  Ptinch^  Burne-Jones  and 
Whistler  included  in  one  sweeping"  condemnation. 
Mr.  Comyns  Carr  has  told  us  how  his  friend  bore 
all  the  attacks  which  his  sensitive  nature  had  at 
first  felt  so  acutely,  and  how  *'with  a  playful 
humour  that  would  have  surprised  his  censors,  he 
would  sometimes  aff'ect  to  join  the  ranks  of  his 
assailants,  and  wage  a  mock  warfare  upon  his 
own  ideals,"  amusing-  his  friends  by  making'-  comic 
drawings  "  in  the  style  of  Rubens  "  of  the  subjects 
to  which  he  declared  he  was  henceforth  going  to 
devote  himself,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  popular 
taste. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  appearance  of  so 
individual  an  art  should  excite  opposition,  and 
the  hostility  it  met  with,  like  that  which  had 
greeted  the  first  appearance  of  the  Pre-Raphaelites, 
was  really  only  a  tribute  to  its  originality.  Be- 
sides, the  Pre-Raphaelite  battle  had  long  been 
fought  and  won,  and  the  public  was  a  very 
diff'erent  one  from  that  which  Rossetti,  Millais, 
and  Holman  Hunt  had  been  obliged  to  face  thirty 
years  before.  An  ever-increasing  circle,  permeated 
with  the  writings  of  Ruskin,  with  the  poetry  of 
Rossetti,  Morris,  and  Swinburne,  was  ready  to 


112 


BURNE-JONES 


welcome  this  further  development  of  the  move- 
ment, and  to  accept  enthusiastically  Ruskin's 
authoritative  statement  when  he  said:  **The 
work  of  Burne-Jones  is  simply  the  only  art- 
work at  present  produced  in  England,  which  will 
be  received  by  the  future  as  classic  in  its  kind — 
the  best  that  has  been  or  could  be.  These  works 
will  be  immortal,  as  the  best  things  the  modern 
nineteenth  century  in  England  could  do.  .  . 
Little  by  little  the  number  of  his  admirers  in- 
creased, little  by  little  his  antagonists  were  sub- 
dued, and,  if  not  drawn  over  to  his  side,  at  least 
silenced  ;  and  it  was  the  dumb  feeling  of  a  great 
multitude  which  was  expressed  by  George  Eliot 
when  she  wrote  to  him  :  *M  want,  in  gratitude,  to 
tell  you  that  you  make  life  larger  and  more  beautiful 
to  me." 

Many  other  works  besides  those  actually  ex- 
hibited must  be  mentioned  as  belonging  to  this 
period.  Chief  among  these  are  the  cartoons  for 
stained  glass.  Those  for  the  Vyner  memorial  at 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  and  the  two  companion 
designs  for  the  same  church  representing 
*^St.  Catherine"  and  ^^St.  Cecilia  "—in  all  three 
of  which  the  figures  stand  out  light  upon  a  dark 
ground — the  ^^Angeli  Laudantes  "  and  Angeli 
Ministrantes "  of  Salisbury,  ^^The  Last  Judg- 
ment "  put  up  at  Easthampstead,  and  the  Middle- 
ton  Cheney  windows,  were  executed,  as  well  as 
an  immense  number  of  others,  between  1870  and 
1878,  after  which  date  the  firm  ceased  to  under- 
take orders  for  any  but  modern  edifices.  Burne- 
Jones  had  at  this  time  given  up  the  practice,  so 


FAME  113 

strictly  adhered  to  at  first,  of  Indicating"  the  lead- 
lines in  the  designs,  and  he  was  also  able  to  leave 
the  colouring  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Morris  and 
his  staff. 

Among  other  works  were  two  never-finished 
designs  representing  the  vision  of  **The  Masque 
of  Cupid "  seen  by  Britomart  in  the  enchanted 
chamber  of  the  house  of  Busirane.  The  study 
for  the  three  heads  of  Amoret  and  her  perse- 
cutors— 

''th'  one  Despi^ht 
The  other  cleped  Cruelty  by  name," 

is  particularly  interesting  by  the  power  it  displays 
over  a  wide  range  of  facial  expression.  Very 
rarely  did  Burne-Jones  draw  a  face  expressive  of 
evil  passions  ;  here  he  has  done  it,  and  with  a 
mastery  which  recalls  Leonardo.  The  '*faire 
dame  who 

like  a  dreary  sprig-ht 
Cald  by  strong-  charmes  out  of  eternall  night 
Had  Deathes  own  ymage  figurd  in  her  face, 
Full  of  sad  signes  fearfull  to  living  sight, 
Yet  in  that  horror  shewd  a  seemly  grace," 

was  of  a  type  he  loved  to  depict, — the  last  line 
especially  of  the  description  being  characteristic 
of  the  manner  in  which  his  heroes  and  heroines 
maintain  under  the  most  appalling  circumstances 
their  godlike  dignity  of  demeanour. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  although  the  spirit  of 
Burne-Jones's  art  is  so  closely  akin  to  that  of 
Spenser's,  these  tw^o  compositions  are  the  only 
ones  which  owed  their  inspiration  to  the  author 
of  The  Faery  Quee?i,  They  were  intended  for  mural 

I 


114  BURNE- JONES 

decoration,  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that 
they  were  never  carried  out  as  such. 

Another  very  interesting*  series  was  a  set  of 
designs  for  needlework  executed  between  1874 
and  1880  for  Lady  Lowthian  Bell.  The  theme 
chosen  was  The  Romaunt  of  the  Rose^  and  the 
subjects  represented  are  The  Pilgrim  at  the  Gate 
of  Idleness,"  *^The  Wall  of  the  Garden  of  Idle- 
ness," Love  leading  the  Pilgrim,"  William  de 
Loris  dreaming, "1  Danger,"  Shame,"  ^^The 
Procession  of  the  Joys  of  Life,"  and  ^^The  Find- 
ing of  the  Rose."  Morris  designed  a  rose  back- 
ground for  some  of  these  subjects  and  also  dyed 
the  wools,  and  the  embroidered  panels,  worked 
from  photographic  enlargements  of  Burne-Jones's 
drawings,  form  a  frieze  about  three  feet  wide  and 
seventy  feet  long  above  the  oak  panelling  of  a 
dining-room  specially  planned  by  Philip  Webb  for 
their  reception  at  Rounton  Grange,  Northallerton. 
Two  water-colour  drawings  which  were  done  for 
the  second  subject  show  the  Pilgrim  gazing  at 
the  figures,  here  represented  by  statues  but  in  the 
Kehnscott  Chaucer  by  paintings,^  of  the  ills  of 
fife:  Hate,  Felonye,  Vilanye,  Coveitwyse,  Avarice, 
Envye,  Sorowe,  Elde,  Tyme,  Pope-holy  (or 
hypocrisy),  and  Povert,  which 

With  gfold  and  azure  over  alle 
Depeynted  were  upon  the  walle." 

For  others  of  the  series  exquisite  pencil  studies 

^  William  de  Loris  was  the  French  author  of  The  Ro- 
?naunt  of  the  Rose  which  was  partly  translated  by  Chaucer, 

2  Eighteen  illustrations  of  The  Romaunt  of  the  Rose  were 
done  for  the  Kelniscott  Chaucer, 


FAME  115 

were  made ;  amongst  these  must  be  specially 
mentioned  ^^Love  and  Beauty,"  ^'Courtesie  and 
Franchise,"  Richesse  and  Largesse,"  and  the 
magnificent  ^'Love  leading  the  Pilgrim"^  of  1877, 
one  of  the  finest,  in  quality  of  line  and  composi- 
tion as  well  as  in  charm  of  poetic  feeling,  of  all 
Burne-Jones's  drawings.  Love  is  represented  as 
a  spirit,  a  guardian  angel  crowned  with  roses, 
round  whose  head  all  the  birds  of  the  air  make 
sweet  music — 

*'  He  semede  as  he  were  an  aungel 
That  down  were  comen  fro  hevene  clere," 

and  so  intent  is  the  Pilgrim  on  following  him, 
that  he  does  not  even  see  the  smiling  valley  with 
its  winding  river,  nor  the  road  which  leads  to  the 
fair  city  ;  but,  with  his  hand  in  that  of  Love,  he 
climbs  the  rocks,  and  struggles  through  the  thorny 
places,  happy  with  that  vision  in  front  of  him, 
anxious  only  to  follow. 

Later,  two  pictures  developed  from  these  de- 
signs were  painted  in  oils  for  Mr.  Connal  and 
exhibited  at  the  New  Gallery  in  1893.  These 
were  **The  Pilgrim  at  the  Gate  of  Idleness,"  and 

The  Heart  of  the  Rose,"  the  latter  varying  con- 
siderably from  the  first  conception  of  the  subject. 
In  the  drawing  for  needlework  the  Pilgrim  is 
represented  gazing  upon  the  face  of  the  maiden 
issuing  from  a  large  rose,  while  in  the  oil-paint- 
ing she  is  enthroned  in  the  centre  of  the  rose-bush, 
and  the  Pilgrim  is  led  by  Love  into  her  presence. 

^  This  subject,  thoug-h  not  an  actual  iUustration  of  The 
Romaiint  of  the  Rosl\  owes  its  inspiration  to  it.  It  is  also 
called  "The  Pilg-rim  of  Love/* 


n6  BURNE- JONES 

A  painting  of  Love  leading  the  Pilgrim"  was 
also  begun,  and  was  shown  in  1897  with  a  quota- 
tion from  Swinburne  appended  to  its  title  in  the 
catalogue  : — 

"  Love  that  is  first  and  last  of  all  thing-s  made, 
The  light  that  moving  has  man's  life  for  shade." 

This  work  bore  a  dedication  to  the  friend  who 
thirty  years  before — 

For  the  love  of  old  loves  and  lost  times  " — 

had  inscribed  his  first  verses  to  the  artist.^ 

Other  notable  drawings  were  those  done  to 
illustrate  a  folio  manuscript  of  the  j:^neid^  of 
which  Morris  himself  wrote  and  ornamented  six 
books  before  pressure  of  other  work  caused  it  to 
be  laid  aside.  Another  series  of  drawings,  ^^The 
Story  of  Orpheus,"  was  made  for  an  unpublished 
poem  by  Morris,  and  was  used  many  years  later 
for  the  decoration  of  the  famous  ^'Graham  Piano," 
around  which  the"  designs  were  painted  in  small 
circular  medallions.  The  lid  was  adorned  on  the 
inside  with  a  figure  representing  Earth, — Terra 
Omniparens," — a  woman  seated  on  a  mound  from 
which  spring  the  vine  and  the  briar  among  whose 
curving  branches  a  multitude  of  infants,  white, 
black  and  brown,  disport  themselves.  On  the 
outside,  a  poet  in  mediaeval  attire  was  painted, 
gazing,  through  the  opening  formed  by  a  winged 
circle,  at  a  vision  of  his  ideal  from  whom  the  words 
ne  ouhlie^'^  inscribed  on  a  scroll,  descend  to  him. 

^  — and  whose  latest  volume,  (September  1904),  A  Channel 
Passage  and  other  Poems^  is  dedicated  to  the  memory  of 
Burne-Jones  and  William  Morris. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  EIGHTIES 


1878-1890 


**Pygmalion  and  the  Image" — "The  Annunciation" — '*  The 
Golden  Stairs"— "Dies  Domini  "—"  The  Mill"— "The 
Feast  of  Peleus"  -Other  Subjects  from  The  Tale  of  7roy 
—"The  Wheel  of  Fortune "—"  The  Hours"— "King 
Cophetua  and  the  Beggar- Maid" — Election  to  Associate- 
ship  of  Royal  Academy — "The  Depths  of  the  Sea" — 
"  Flamma  Vestalis  "  Sibylla  Delphica  "—"The  Morning 
of  the  Resurrection" — "The  Garden  of  Pan" — Opening  of 
New  Gallery — Pictures  for  St.  John's,  Torquay — "  The 
Bath  of  Venus" — The  "Perseus"  Series — "The  Tower  of 
Brass"— "The  Briar  Rose." 


HE  twenty  years  which  followed  the  opening 


^  of  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  saw  the  production 
of  an  amazing*  number  of  works  :  oil-paint ing-s, 
water-colours,  portraits  in  both  those  mediums 
and  in  chalk  and  pencil,  illustrations,  cartoons  for 
glass,  for  mosaics,  or  for  tapestries,  drawings  in 
pen-and-ink,  pencil,  silver-point,  chalk,  and  water- 
colour  (the  two  latter  used  either  separately  or  in 
combination),  paintings  in  gold  on  tinted  paper, 
works  in  gesso,  designs  for  jewels,  for  memorial 
tablets,  and  an  infinite  number  of  studies  and 
sketches  of  every  kind.  It  is  impossible  here  to 
describe  any  but  the  more  important  of  these 
works,  which  will  be  taken  in  the  order  in  which 
they  were  finished. 

The  story  of     Pygmalion  and  the  Image  "  had 


ii8  BURNE- JONES 

been    illustrated   for    The  Earthly   Paradise  in 
1867-8,  and  at  the  same  time  four  pictures  from  it 
were  begun  ;   these,  worked  on  at  intervals  for 
several  years,  were  exhibited  at  the  Grosvenor 
Gallery  in  1879.    I"  ^  form  ^^as  perfect  after  its 
own  kind  as  the  form  of  a  Petrarchian  sonnet,'* 
Burne-Jones  has  expressed  in  this  series  a  sequence 
of  thought  on  human  aspiration.     He  has  em- 
bodied it  in  the  old  legend,  and  has  told  the  story 
with  a  simplicity  and  directness  which  make  its 
comprehension  easy  even  to  those  ignorant  of 
classic  lore.    In  the  first  picture,  which  may  be 
taken  as  the  prologue,  the  young  sculptor  is 
standing  before  a  pedestal,  lost  in  thought  of  the 
ideal  conception  to  which  he  would  give  form. 
Unnoticed,  the  fair  Cretan  maidens  pass  his  door- 
way, and  the  sculptured  group  of  the  Graces, 
which  stands  in  the  background,  represents  the 
art  to  which  he  has  attained,  but  which  fails  to 
satisfy  his    soul.     The   second   represents  the 
limitation  of  human  power  :  the  artist  has  done 
his  utmost,  he  has  reached  the  barrier  beyond 
which  no  mortal  effort  can  carry  him,  and,  with 
the  sadness  of  impotent  longing,  he  lays  down  his 
tools.    The  tMrd  shows  the  completion  of  human 
work  by  divine  power.    Pygmalion  has  gone  to 
the  temple  to  pray,  and,  human  passion  having 
withdrawn  itself,  the  divine  presence  enters,  and 
the  goddess  of  Love  herself,  borne  on  a  cloud, 
doves  fluttering  beneath  her  feet,  heaven's  sphere- 
like radiance  about  her  head,  with  uplifted  right 
hand  sends  the  thrill  of  life  quivering  through  the 
marble  limbs.    Half  woman,  half  statue  yet,  with 


I  HE  GODHEAD  FIRES 
(From  the  Py^ma!:on  and  the  Image  Scries) 


THE  EIGHTIES  119 

bewildered  soul  gazing  from  the  awakening  eyes, 
Galatea  bends  forward  with  swaying  motion,  and 
her  outstretched  hands  find  support  on  the  raised 
arm  of  the  divinity.  In  the  fourth  picture  human 
aspiration  attains  divine  realisation,  and,  in  an 
inner  room,  Pygmalion  kneels  before  the  new-found 
woman  who  yields  her  hands  to  the  worshipping 
hands  which  clasp  them.  Her  wondering  eyes 
gaze  far  away  with  that  look  which  all  Burne- 
Jones's  women  wear, — a  look  as  of  a  being  from 
another  sphere,  astray  in  the  pathway  of  human 
existence,"  and  seeing  beyond  the  veil  of  mor- 
tality ;  that  look  gives  even  to  this  picture  of 
human  attainment  that  sense  of  the  unattainable, 
that  hint  of  the  infinite  beyond,  which  is  the 
quintessence  of  Burne-Jones's  art.  It  is  the  same 
feeling  which  in  his  architectural  arrangements, 
causes  him  always  to  *^  lend  a  yonder  to  all  ends," 
to  make  a  beyond  by  building  a  barrier,"  showing 
mysterious  vistas  through  narrow  colonnades  or 
half-open  doors,  and  keeping  the  imagination 
ever  on  the  alert  by  a  suggestion  of  something 
which  eludes  it.  Over  and  over  again  he  asserts, 
by  every  means  in  his  power,  that  however  fair 
the  time  and  place,  there  is  something  fairer 
beyond,  that  things  mortal  are  incomplete  and 
therefore  tinged  with  sadness,  that  the  quest  of 
the  soul,  in  its  strange  nostalgia  of  the  infinite, 
lies  ever  before  it,  that,  in  fact,  a  man's  reach  " 
must  still     exceed  his  grasp  " — 

Or  what's  a  heaven  for?  "... 
The  setting  of  the  story  is  in  the  style  of  the 
early  Renaissance,  a  quaint  combination  of  the 


120 


BURNE-JONES 


classical  and  mediaeval,  so  skilful  that  it  produces 
no  sense  of  incongruity,  but  simply  serves  to 
transport  the  spectator  far  from  time  and  place 
into  a  region  of  abstract  ideas  in  which  archaeo- 
logical accuracy  is  of  no  account.  The  colouring 
is  very  much  more  subdued  than  in  previous 
works,  and  in  this  respect  a  change  can  be 
noticed  at  this  period.  The  Venetian  influence, 
felt  so  strongly  at  first  through  Rossetti,  had, 
under  the  determination  to  attain  perfection  of 
draughtsmanship,  been  giving  way  to  that  of 
severer  masters  of  line,  and  research  for  ideal 
form  and  dignified  design  is  now  seen  to  take  the 
ascendency  over  the  passion  for  luxurious  colour. 
Beauty  is  looked  for  in  balance  and  harmony  of 
line  rather  than  in  charm  of  colour  or  subtle  ar- 
rangement of  light  and  shade,  and  the  brilliancy 
of  the  earlier  works  is  replaced  by  a  subdued 
harmony  in  which  the  most  delicate  tones  are 
blended  in  a  silvery  half-light  ;  the  range  of  this 
unique  palette  can  be  judged  by  a  comparison 
between  the  almost  monochrome  Annunciation," 
or  **The  Golden  Stairs,"  and  the  intense  but 
restrained  glory  of  colour  of  King  Cophetua  " 
and  of  the     Briar-Rose  "  series. 

The  Annunciation "  was  exhibited  the  same 
year  as  Pygmalion."  Here  the  pale,  slight 
Virgin  stands  beside  a  well  in  the  outer  court  of 
a  dwelling  built  in  the  style  of  the  Renaissance  ; 
above  the  rounded  archway  which  forms  the  en- 
trance a  bas-relief  represents  on  one  side  the 
Temptation  and  on  the  other  the  Expulsion  from 
Paradise, — that  first  act  in  the  drama  of  humanity, 


THE  EIGHTIES 


121 


which,  inscribed  on  the  house  of  Hfe,  has  caused 
the  exiled  soul  who  moves  about  its  narrow 
passages  to  wear  in  her  eyes  a  look  in  which  the 
sorrow  of  all  time  seems  to  be  reflected.  But 
now  another  voice  than  that  of  the  Tempter  is 
about  to  speak  from  the  tall  tree  which  grows 
beside  the  portal.  Poised  in  arrested  descent,  the 
angel  who  bears  to  the  daughter  of  Eve  the 
message  of  reconciliation,  raises  his  hands  in 
blessing  as  he  pauses  for  a  moment  before 
breaking  the  stillness  with  the  words  of  the 
angelic  salutation.  It  is  interesting  to  compare 
this  picture  with  the  early  ones  of  the  same 
subject:  the  "  Bodley  Triptych"  and  its  replica 
at  St.  Paul's,  Brighton,!  the  Nativity  Triptych," 
the  small  water-colour  in  which  the  Virgin  presses 
a  dove  to  her  breast  as  she  listens  to  the  angel's 
words,  and  the  one  in  which  the  great  mediaeval 
angel  with  rustling  wings  appears  before  the 
praying  Virgin.-  The  Rossettian  influence  which 
marks  all  these  has  now  entirely  vanished,  but 
another  is  apparent, — that  of  the  early  Christian 
art,  which,  springing  from  the  union  of  the 
Graeco-Roman  and  the  Oriental,  produced  the 
stately  mosaics  of  old  Byzantium,  Ravenna,  and 
Padua.  The  perpendicular  character  of  the  com- 
position, broken  by  the  arched  doorway,  and  by  the 
curved  wings,  bent  head  and  raised  hands  of  the 
angel,  the  lines  of  the  Madonna's  dress,  the  deep 
folds  of  the  angel's  draperies  falling  straight  to 
his  downstretched  feet,  the  poise  of  the  Virgin's 
head,  all  recall  in  a  marked  manner  that  Byzantine 
1  See  p.  57.  "  See  pp.  63-5. 


122 


BURNE-JONES 


art  which,  next  to  Celtic  things,"  was  Burne- 
Jones's  best-loved  study. 

The  Golden  Stairs,"  named  first  The  King's 
Wedding,"  and  then  Music  on  the  Stairs,"  is, 
like  the  ^'  Annunciation,"  a  harmony  in  white.  It 
belongs  to  that  class  of  pictures  which  illustrate 
no  particular  legend,  have  no  particular  symbolic 
meaning,  but,  like  beautiful  music,  captivate  the 
senses,  and  transport  the  beholder  into  a  realm 
of  peace  and  beauty.  It  represents  a  procession 
of  girls  descending  a  spiral  golden  staircase. 
They  are  clothed  in  simple  white  garments  and 
crowned  with  leaves.  Some  hold  cymbals,  others 
tambourines  or  flutes,  others  long  trumpets,  such 
as  those  which,  held  in  the  hands  of  angels,  gleam 
like  sunbeams  against  the  blue  of  Fra  Angelico's 
skies.  Their  bare  feet  press  the  golden  steps, 
and  their  bare  fingers  the  silver  strings  of  the 
lutes,  or  the  stops  of  the  flutes.  And  the  steps 
shine  and  reflect  the  feet,  and  the  chords  vibrate 
and  reflect  the  souls  of  the  gentle  musicians. 
Their  path  is  strewn  with  branches,  like  the 
threshold  of  a  church  on  Palm  Sunday.  .  .  . 
Here  and  there  beneath  the  brows,  eyes  gaze  out 
beyond  the  frame,  beyond  the  halls,  beyond  the 
building,  perhaps  beyond  life  itself.  .  .  ."^  M.  de 
la  Sizeranne  has  drawn  a  beautiful  comparison 
between  the  spirit  of  this  picture  and  that  of  our 
age  of  keen  business  competition,  with  its  mad 
fratricidal  struggle  for  fame  and  fortune  so  dra- 
matically pictured  by  M.  Rochegrosse  in  another 
famous  picture. 
^  Ruskin  et  la  religion  de  la  heautd^  by  R.  de  la  Sizeranne. 


DIES  DOMINI 


THE  EIGHTIES  123 

**Dies  Domini"  was  developed  from  part  of 
the  design  for  the  Easthampstead  window.^  In 
this,  the  round  opening  above  the  central  light 
is  filled  by  a  figure  of  Christ,  who,  descending 
from  heaven  on  the  wings  of  angels,  His  right 
hand  raised  in  judgment,  with  sad,  reproachful 
face,  points  with  His  left  hand  to  His  pierced 
side.  The  picture  is  a  circular  water-colour  in 
which,  instead  of  the  starry  firmament  as  a  back- 
ground, space  is  filled  with  legions  of  the  heavenly 
host,  the  idea  of  whose  multitude  is  magnificently 
suggested  by  the  rustling  forest  of  wings  among 
which  glimmer  like  stars  the  soft  radiances  shining 
from  the  unseen  heads.  The  swiftness  of  Christ's 
coming  is  shown  by  the  draperies  which,  borne 
upwards  in  the  wind  of  His  descent,  fill  the  upper 
part  of  the  composition.  Only  the  faces  of  the 
four  nearest  angels  are  seen, — faces  of  intense 
spiritual  beauty.  The  scheme  of  colouring  is  very 
simple,  a  harmony  of  blue  and  of  ivory  fiesh 
tones.  The  wings  and  the  eyes  of  the  angels  are 
of  the  blue  of  the  firmament,  and  so  are  the 
draperies  whose  grand  lines  give  the  picture  such 
a  decorative  character. 

'^The  Mill,"  an  oil-painting  begun  about  1870, 
but  not  exhibited  till  1882,  and  recently  left  to  the 
nation,  represents  three  graceful  figures  dancing 
to  music  played  on  a  stringed  instrument  by  a 
fourth.  The  background,  formed  by  a  mass  of 
mill-buildings  seen  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream 
in  which  figures  are  bathing,  is  very  characteristic 
of  the  art  of  Burne-Jones  in  its  delightful  com- 
plexity. 1  Sec  p.  112. 


124  BURNE- JONES 

**The  Feast  of  Peleus is  a  long  picture  of 
small  dimensions,  which  represents,  in  a  skilful 
composition  of  nineteen  figures,  the  disastrous 
moment  when  Discord  threw  the  apple  inscribed 
*^To  the  Fairest"  on  the  table  spread  for  the 
marriage  feast  of  Thetis  and  Peleus, — that  fatal 
deed  whose  consequences  culminated  in  the  Trojan 
War.  Zeus,  from  his  central  place,  raises  his 
hand  in  reprobation ;  beside  him,  o'ershadowed 
by  the  eagle's  wing,  cower  the  bride  and  bride- 
groom ;  of  the  five  goddesses  present,  three  have 
risen,  and  with  characteristic  gestures  stretch 
forth  their  hands  to  claim  the  prize  ;  Hermes, 
holding  it,  reads  the  words  on  the  scroll  ;  Apollo, 
distress  in  his  eyes,  strikes  his  lyre  in  a  vain 
effort  to  restore  harmony,  while  Bacchus,  Mars, 
and  Pluto  cast  angry  glances  on  the  snake- 
crowned,  bat-winged  evil  one,  who,  her  mission 
accomplished,  shrinks  away.  Ceres,  in  terror,  and 
sad  Proserpine  keep  their  places,  while  in  the 
foreground.  Love,  who  is  occupied  in  spreading 
the  bridal  couch,  and  the  Fates,  who  are  spinning 
beside  it,  pause  for  a  moment  in  their  tasks  as 
they  too  gaze  in  dismay  on  the  retreating  figure  ; 
only  the  Centaurs,  unconcerned,  continue  their 
service.  Beyond,  a  wooded  hillside  slopes  down 
to  the  blue  sea,  which,  bordered  on  both  sides 
by  bays  and  promontories,  stretches  away  to  the 
horizon.  The  table  is  covered  with  a  white  cloth, 
and  spread  with  fruit,  bread,  and  cups  of  nectar. 
It  is  a  glowing  canvas  of  infinite  charm, — a  Greek 
myth  seen  with  mediaeval  eyes,  and  painted  with 
all  the  skill  of  a  later  century. 


THE  WHEEL  OF  FORTUNE 


THE  EIGHTIES  125 

^'The  Feast  of  Peleus  "  had  first  been  thoug-ht 
out  as  a  subsidiary  picture  for  a  large  composi- 
tion dealing-  with  The  Tale  of  Troy^  for  which 
were  also  designed  Venus  Concordia,"  Venus 
Discordia/'  and  four  fine  panels  of  Fortune," 

Fame,"  Oblivion,"  and  ^'Love."  Large  un- 
finished paintings  of  the  two  contrasting  Venus 
subjects  are  at  the  Garden  Studio,  and  the 
beauty  of  the  designs  and  the  charm  of  the 
finished  parts  of  the  Venus  Concordia,"  make 
one  regret  that  these  were  among  the  many  works 
left  unfinished  by  the  master's  hand. 

From  the  design  of     Fortune"  was  developed 

The  Wheel  of  Fortune,"  Burne-Jones's  favourite 
finished  oil-painting,  which,  in  its  sombre  grandeur 
and  tragic  intensity,  as  well  as  in  the  conception 
of  the  figures,  recalls  Michel  Angelo.^  The 
goddess,  a  gigantic,  passionless  figure,  stands 
beside  the  massive  wheel  to  which  human  destinies 
are  bound.  Slowly  and  inexorably  her  hand  regu- 
lates its  motion,  and  the  slave,  still  fettered,  the 
king  whose  frail  sovereignty  is  typified  by  his 
transparent  crystal  sceptre,  and  the  laurel-crowned 
poet,  are  each  borne  in  turn  to  the  summit  and 
depth  of  destiny.  The  vision  looms  immense, 
high  above  the  little  works  of  man,  his  crumbling 
palaces,  and  fallen  temples.  The  goddess  is 
nearly  the  height  of  the  picture,  while  the  wheel 
is  taken  beyond  the  frame  both  top  and  bottom, 
and  the  illusion  of  its  size  thus  immeasurably  in- 

^  There  is  a  smaller  version  of  this  subject,  in  which 
Fortune  is  represented  seated  upon  the  Wheel,  instead  of 
standing-  beside  it. 


126 


BUHNE-JONES 


creased.  In  this  fine  harmony  of  warm  shadows 
and  steely  lights,  Burne-Jones  has  expressed  the 
ideas  of  gradual  and  irresistible  motion  of  rise 
and  fall — the  tide  of  Fortune,  as  distinguished 
from  instant  change  or  catastrophe  ; — those  of 
the  connection  of  the  fates  of  men  with  each 
other,  the  yielding  and  occupation  of  high  place, 
the  alternately  appointed  and  inevitable  humilia- 
tion : — and  the  fastening,  in  the  sight  of  the 
Ruler  of  Destiny,  of  all  to  the  mighty  axle  which 
moves  only  as  the  axle  of  the  world. 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  twilight  tones  of  this 
canvas  was  ^'The  Hours,"  begun  about  1870, 
and  painted  —  like  the  Feast  of  Peleus,"  also 
commenced  the  same  year  —  with  a  wealth  of 
joyous  colour.  The  occupations  of  the  day  are 
represented  by  six  maidens  sitting  in  line  on  a 
sculptured  seat. 

King  Cophetua  and  the  Beggar-Maid"  is 
closely  allied  in  feeling  to  the  Chant  d' Amour." 
Both  represent^  in  an  atmosphere  of  music,  the 
bending  down  of  material  strength  before  *^the 
Beauty  of  the  Soul."  Clad  in  a  grey  dress  which 
scarcely  covers  her,  the  beggar-maid  sits  enthroned, 
and  her  rust-red  hair  makes  a  halo  to  her  pure 
young  face.  She  is  pale,  and  her  eyes  look  as  if 
the  soul  within  were  wondering  at  its  imprisonment 
in  mortal  flesh.  In  one  hand  she  holds  flowers, 
and  her  bare  and  perfect  feet,  white  as  ivory,  are 
reflected  in  the  shining  metal  floor  ;  below,  un- 
crowned by  his  own  hands,  his  magnificent  head 
thrown  back  as  he  gazes  entranced  upon  her  face, 

^  The  Art  and  the  Pleastcres  of  England,  Ruskin. 


WOOD-NYMPH 


THE  EIGHTIES  127 

sits  the  king  in  mute  adoration.  Above,  in  the 
gallery,  two  choristers  are  singing,  and  thus  the 
beauty  of  sweet  sound  is  added  to  all  that  love, 
and  art,  and  wealth  can  bring,  to  glorify  the 
chosen  one.  Beyond  the  singers,  just  above  the 
head  of  the  maiden,  a  vista  of  wood  and  sky 
heightens  in  a  magical  manner  the  effect  of  the 
scene.  The  architectural  features  of  the  com- 
position add  wonderfully  to  its  impressiveness, 
while  its  beauty  of  colour  is  beyond  description. 
Sent  in  1889  to  the  Paris  International  Exhibition, 
it  called  forth  the  greatest  admiration,  and  M.  de 
la  Sizeranne  has  told  us  that  the  sight  of  it  caused 
many  a  young  enthusiast  to  cross  the  Channel, 
and  discover  English  art."  When  first  exhibited 
in  1884  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  The  Times  ex- 
pressed a  hope  that  this  work,  not  only  the 
finest  work  that  Mr.  Burne-Jones  has  ever  painted, 
but  one  of  the  finest  pictures  ever  painted  by  an 
Englishman,"  might  be  secured  for  the  nation. 
The  wish  was  fulfilled,  when,  after  the  painter's 
death,  a  subscription  was  raised  to  buy  the  picture 
from  the  executors  of  the  Earl  of  Wharncliffe  for 
the  National  Gallery  of  British  Art. 

The  monochrome  Wood-Nymph,"  seated  in  a 
tree,  belongs  to  the  same  year  as  King  Coph- 
etua,"  and  with  this  picture  of  repose  must  be 
mentioned  one  of  undulating  motion,  painted  a 
few  years  earlier,  A  Sea-Nymph,"  with  red-gold 
hair,  playing  with  fishes  in  a  conventional  sea, — a 
work  strongly  reminiscent  of  Pompeian  art. 

In  1885,  Burne-Jones,  who  had  never  sent  his 
work  to  the  Royal  Academy,  was,  without  his 


128 


BURNE-JONES 


knowledge,  elected  an  Associate  of  that  body. 
He  showed  his  appreciation  of  the  honour  by- 
sending'  to  the  1886  exhibition  the  Leonardesque 
picture,  of  uncanny  charm  and  magnificent  work- 
manship, entitled  *^The  Depths  of  the  Sea": — a 
mermaid,  unconscious  that  her  clasp  has  killed  her 
mortal  lover,  bearing  his  body  through  the  rocky 
passage  which  leads  to  her  dwelling,  with  a 
haunting  smile  of  exultation  on  her  fair  elf-like 
face.  The  frame  bore  the  inscription, — Habes 
tola  quod  meiite  petistiy  infelix.''  It  is  a  picture  m 
which  the  human  interest  is  combined  in  an  extra- 
ordinary way  with  the  fantastic,  and  the  scene  has 
the  convincing  quality  which  none  but  a  great 
imaginative  painter  could  have  given  it.  Here 
the  problem  of  expressing  at  the  same  time  the 
descending  movement  of  the  figures  and  the  up- 
bearing power  of  the  water  is  solved  with  con- 
summate mastery,  while  not  less  wonderful  is  the 
rendering  of  the  down-filtering  light  and  the 
painting  of  the  bubbles  which  rise  to  the  surface, 
and  of  the  pebbles  which  lie  on  the  ocean  floor. 
This  was  the  only  picture  Burne-Jones  ever  sent 
to  the  Academy.  He  felt  the  environment  of  so 
many  conflicting  styles  to  be  uncongenial  to  his 
art,  and  in  1893  resigned  his  Associateship,  with- 
out further  availing  himself  of  its  privileges. 

Other  beautiful  works  of  1886  were  Flamma 
Vestalis,"  a  girl  in  blue  draperies,  painted  from 
the  artist's  daughter;  Sibylla  Delphica,"  in 
which  a  priestess  in  orange-coloured  robes  is 
reading  the  oracle  from  leaves  of  the  sacred 
laurel;  and  *^The  Morning  of  the  Resurrection'' 


THE  DEPTHS  OF  THE  SEA 


THE  EIGHTIES  129 

which,  with  two  side  panels  representing*  **The 
Annunciation,"  adorns  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
Vere  Street.^ 

In  this  picture  the  almost  equal  spacing-  of  the 
four  vertical  figures  and  the  character  of  the 
draperies  is  particularly  Byzantine.  It  is  almost 
a  monochrome,  and  the  moment  represented  is 
that  immediately  preceding  the  recognition  of  the 
Risen  Lord  by  Mary  Magdalene.  She  is  turning 
towards  Him  as  He  stands  behind  her,  a  figure  of 
quiet  dignity  seen  in  profile  against  the  entrance 
of  the  sepulchre.  Within  it,  sitting  at  the  head 
and  foot  of  the  tomb,  two  angels  make  the  ancient 
sign  of  adoration,  covering  the  mouth  with  the 
hand  ;  the  Lord  still  wears  mortal  garb,  and  their 
awe  is  mixed  with  pity  for  human  suffering  as 
they  gaze  upon  Him  before  whom  in  Heaven  they 
veil  their  faces.  What  the  Christ-ideal  was  to 
Burne-Jones,  and  how  earnestly  he  strove  to 
express  it,  may  be  gathered  from  the  words 
written  to  a  friend  shortly  before  his  death  :  *'  The 
more  I  recall  the  efforts  I  have  made  to  express 
the  face  of  Christ,  the  more  discontented  I  am 
with  them.  I  do  not  think  there  is  one  which  can 
be  looked  upon  as  anything  but  a  failure.  If 
anyone  in  our  day  could  realise  all  that  we 
think  or  mean  by  it,  I  believe  it  would  be 
Rossetti.'"- 

In     The  Garden  of  Pan  "  two  lovers  are  sitting 

^  In  the  same  church  a  particularly  fine  window  bv 
Burne-Jones  represents  "The  Entrance  into  Jerusalem." 

Five  Great  Pai?iters  of  the  Victoria^-  Era^  by  Sir  Wyke 
Bayliss. 

K 


I30  BURNE- JONES 

together  listening-  to  the  piping  of  the  sylvan  god. 
This  was  one  of  the  last  pictures  to  be  exhibited 
at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery.  A  split  having  occurred 
among  the  directors,  the  New  Gallery  was  opened 
in  1889  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Comyns  Carr 
and  Mr.  C.  Halle,  and  it  was  there  that  henceforth 
Burne-Jones  exhibited  his  works. 

In  1888  two  subjects  were  painted  for  St.  John's 
Church,  Torquay, — *^The  Nativity,"  and  A  King 
and  a  Shepherd  led  by  Angels  to  Bethlehem.''  The 
same  year  **The  Bath  of  Venus,"  begun  about 
1872,  was  exhibited  for  the  first  time  at  Glasgow  ; 
the  goddess,  attended  by  beautifully  draped  women 
playing  on  stringed  instruments,  is  shown  descend- 
ing a  flight  of  steps  to  the  water. 

The  origin  of  the  Perseus"  series  has  already 
been  mentioned.  The  beginning  of  the  story  is 
told  in  *^The  Call  of  Perseus,"  in  which  two 
scenes  are  depicted  in  one  picture  :  first,  in  the 
middle  distance,  Perseus  in  deep  dejection  seated 
on  the  ground,  the  veiled  figure  of  a  woman 
bending  over  him  ;  then,  in  the  foreground,  his 
startled  recognition  of  Athene  who  stands  before 
him  superb  and  inspiring,  holding  the  invincible 
short  sword  and  the  mirror  with  which  he  is  to 
accomplish  his  task.  The  second  subject,  *^  Per- 
seus and  the  Graiae,"  first  executed  in  gesso, ^ 
was  repeated  several  times.  In  the  cartoon  the 
figures  are  surrounded  by  an  arid  desert,  in  the 
oil,  by  an  ice-bound  land  of  mist  and  snow,  and 
in  either  case  the  landscape  of  the  dreary  region 
which  *^the  sun  never  looks  upon  with  his  beams 

^  See  p.  107. 


PERSEUS  AND  THE  NEREIDS 


THE  EIGHTIES  131 

nor  the  mig-hty  moon,"  gives  an  eerie  charm  to  a 
scene  which  haunts  the  memory  like  a  dream  of 
some  dim  land  of  ghosts.  In  Perseus  and  the 
Nereids,"  Burne-Jones  again  found  a  theme  which 
had  never  before  been  treated.  The  hero  is  de- 
picted sitting  on  a  rock,  fastening  a  winged  sandal 
to  one  foot,  while  in  front  of  him,  their  perfect  feet 
reflected  in  the  shallow  water  in  which  they  stand, 
is  an  exquisite  group  of  three  nymphs,  one  of 
whom  holds  the  otb  r  sandal,  another  the  helmet 
of  invisibility,  the  third  the  bag  in  which  the 
head  of  Medusa  is  to  be  concealed.  Both  the 
colouring  of  the  picture  and  the  character  of  the 
draperies  vary  considerably  in  the  cartoon  and  in 
the  oil. 

The  next  three  subjects  were  to  have  been  The 
Finding  of  Medusa,"  The  Birth  of  Pegasus  and 
Chrysaor,"  in  gesso,  and  The  Flight  of  Perseus"; 
none  of  these  were  completed,  but  the  designs, 
cartoons,  and  studies  for  them  remain  among  the 
finest  examples  of  their  creator's  imaginative 
power.  In  the  first,  Medusa,  the  beautiful  woman 
struck  with  a  curse,  is  standing  in  speechless 
woe,  while  her  winged  companions  cower  on  the 
ground,  as  though  feeling  the  approach  of  an 
invisible  enemy,  who,  looking  in  his  mirror  at  the 
tragic  figure,  draws  the  sword  which  will  end  her 
sorrows.  In  the  next  design — executed  in  water- 
colour  only,  and  very  interesting  in  its  archaic 
character — Perseus  holds  the  head  by  its  snaky 
coils  at  arm's  length,  and  gazes  in  wonder  at 
the  fallen  trunk  from  which  spring  Pegasus  and 
Chrysaor.    Perseus  is  then  shown  resuming  his 


132  BURNE- JONES 

flight,  and,  at  the  same  time,  putting  the  head 
in  the  bag,  while  the  Gorgons,  rising  in  the  air, 
try  in  vain  to  catch  their  unseen  assailant. 

The  cartoon  only  for  Atlas  and  Perseus  "  was 
executed.  Here,  in  illimitable  space,  the  giant 
towers  —  a  marble  statue  —  bearing  the  starry 
globe  of  the  heavens,  and  gazing  reproachfully 
at  the  receding  figure  of  Perseus,  who,  in  pass- 
ing, has  held  up  before  him  the  terrible  head. 
This  was  to  have  been  followed  by  a  double  pic- 
ture, finally  carried  out  as  two  separate  ones, 
"  The  Rock  of  Doom  "  and    The  Doom  Fulfilled." 

In  the  first  of  these  it  is  evening,  and,  in  the 
background,  lights  are  beginning  to  glimmer  in 
the  sea-girt  town.  Almost  in  the  centre  of  the 
picture  a  pillar  of  rock  rises  from  the  green 
waves,  and  on  one  side  of  it  stands  Andromeda, 
nude,  chained  by  one  arm,  motionless  in  her 
resignation,  her  bent  head  alone  expressive  of 
what  is  passing  in  her  mind.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  rock,  swift  as  the  seagulls  which  skim 
the  waves  behind  him,  one  winged  foot  just 
touching  the  water,  the  Medusa  head  swinging 
in  the  bag  slung  on  his  arm,  his  attitude  ex- 
pressive at  once  of  his  haste  to  reassure  and 
save,  and  his  fear  of  causing  alarm  by  his 
sudden  appearance,  Perseus  approaching  removes 
his  helmet  of  darkness  ;  and  the  moment  the 
artist  has  chosen  to  paint  is  that  first  glance  into 
each  other's  eyes  of  the  two  beings  whom  fate 
has  led  to  this  strange  meeting-place.  The  pic- 
ture is  a  very  characteristic  one.  The  Andromeda 
is  a  fine  example  of  Burne-Jones's  method  of 


THE  KOCH  OK  DOOM 


THE  DOOM  FULFILLED 


THE  EIGHTIES  133 

posing  his  standing  figures,  while  the  Perseus  is 
one  of  those  *^shy  young  gods  who  walk  the 
world  for  the  first  time,"  with  the  face  of  an  angel, 
the  proportions  and  muscles  of  an  athlete,  and  a 
gentleness  and  grace  of  attitude  which  are  almost 
feminine. 

In  the  second  picture,  seen  from  the  other  side 
of  the  column  of  rock,  Perseus  is  in  deadly  struggle 
with  the  monster  ;  he  stands  helmeted,  clasped  in 
the  huge  coils,  calm  as  befits  the  chosen  one  of 
the  gods,  waiting  the  exact  moment  when  the 
hideous  head  will  dart  forward,  and  he  can  sever 
it.  Andromeda,  her  chains  struck  off,  stands 
awaiting  the  issue  of  the  struggle  ;  she  is  turned 
from  the  spectator,  and  the  action  of  her  hands 
alone  shows  her  mortal  terror  ;  near  her  head  one 
glint  of  sky  seen  through  a  fissure  in  the  rock 
breaks  the  gloom  of  the  background.  In  all 
these  pictures  the  buoyancy  given  to  the  figure 
of  Perseus  by  the  winged  heels  is  admirably 
expressed. 

The  next  subject  was  to  have  been  in  gesso, 
The  Court  of  King  Pheneus," — Perseus  petrify- 
ing his  enemies  by  the  sight  of  his  deadly  trophy. 
It  was  never  executed.  The  last  of  the  series. 
The  Baleful  Head,"  was  one  of  the  first  to  be 
finished,  and  was  shown  at  the  last  exhibition  of 
the  Grosvenor  Gallery.  In  contrast  to  the  pre- 
vious scenes  of  terror  and  danger — whose  scheme 
of  colour  was  of  greys,  and  greens,  and  steely 
colours — this  one  glows  with  the  subdued  warmth 
of  a  beautiful  tapestry.  Here  all  the  terrors  are 
over,  and  the  memory  of  them  only  serves  to  en- 


134  BURNE- JONES 

hance  the  happiness  of  the  present.  Heroism  has 
vanquished  adverse  destiny,  and  in  this  new  Garden 
of  Eden,  the  only  dangerous  thing*  is  that  dead 
face  which  in  the  hands  of  the  hero  has  become  a 
weapon  of  defence.  Here  the  apples  fall  softly 
in  the  long*  grass,  and  tall  columbines  and  little 
blue  pansies  grow  beside  the  well,  as  in  the  mellow 
evening  light,  Andromeda,  robed  in  the  colours  of 
these  flowers,  leans  her  lovely  profile  over  the 
water  to  see,  mirrored  in  its  calm  surface,  *Hhat 
death  she  lived  by."  And  while  she  looks,  her 
lover,  fearful  of  danger  to  her  even  from  that 
calm  reflection,  clasps  her  hand,  and  fixes  his 
anxious  gaze  on  her  bent  head.  The  three  faces 
are  seen  repeated  in  the  clear  surface,  a  subtle 
method  of  still  further  emphasising,  as  in  *'The 
Mirror  of  Venus,"  that  intensity  of  expression 
which  was  the  artistes  aim.  The  composition  here 
is  particularly  admirable,  the  grouping  of  the 
heads,  the  placing  of  the  hands,  the  lines  of  the 
figures,  everything  serving  to  fix  the  attention  on 
the  centre  of  interest. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  James  Russell 
Lowell  considered  the  Perseus  series  ^*the  finest 
achievement  in  art  of  our  time  or  of  any  time." 

Distinct  from  this  series,  but  related  to  it  by  its 
subject,  is  the  large  ^*Danae  and  the  Brazen 
Tower.  "1  It  is  an  upright,  narrow  picture,  in 
which,  through  a  tall  open  door,  beyond  a  cobbled 
court,  Acrisius  is  seen  superintending  the  building* 
of  the  tower.  White-robed,  surrounded  by  his 
guards,  he  stands  on  the  threshold,  like  a  priest 

1  Also  called     The  Tower  of  Brass." 


THE  BALEFUL  HEAD 


THE  EIGHTIES  135 

awaiting  the  victim  he  is  to  sacrifice.  In  the 
foreground,  very  fair  against  the  dark  cypress,  as 
she  stands  in  her  flame-coloured  mantle  by  the 
massive  door  in  the  palace  garden,  the  slight  frail 
being  round  whom  inexorable  fate  is  drawing  its 
net,  unconscious  of  her  doom,  gazes  curiously  at 
the  strange  construction.  Her  attitude,  as  she 
gathers  up  her  mantle  with  one  hand  to  continue 
on  her  way,  and  yet  pauses,  with  her  other  hand 
raised  to  her  chin,  looking  a  moment  longer,  is 
wonderfully  expressive  ;  and  the  two  parts  of  the 
composition,  built  up  almost  entirely  of  vertical 
lines,  are  skilfully  connected  by  the  curved  lines 
of  the  paved  court  which  lead  the  eye  from  the 
little  patch  of  ground  where  the  sad  irises  grow 
round  Danae's  feet,  to  the  steps  of  the  prison 
which  awaits  her.  Danae  "  presents  a  striking 
instance  of  the  psychological  moment  which  in 
the  choice  of  his  subjects  appealed  to  Burne-Jones. 
In  the  semi-abstract  region  in  which  his  creations 
move,  to  exist  in  bodily  presence  is  almost  to  be 
doing"  and  *'to  look  is  to  live,"  for  emotion 
dominates  thought  and  action,  and  deeds  are  but 
the  accessories  of  life."  Scarcely  ever  is  the 
moment  of  action  depicted  :  Burne-Jones  chooses 
rather  to  show  the  soul  under  the  conditions 
which  are  leading  to  it,  to  tantalise  and  mystify 
by  the  surroundings  in  which  he  places  his  per- 
sonages, and  to  leave  the  rest  to  the  imagination. 
What  other  painter  would  have  thought  of  repre- 
senting Danae  thus,  still  in  maiden  liberty,  roaming 
in  her  father's  palace  ?  And  what  other  painter, 
had  he  chosen  that  moment,  could  have  invested 


136  BURNE-JONES 

it  with  such  charm  and  pathos,  and  with  such  a 
suggestion  of  unyielding  fate  ?  In  the  same  way, 
when  in  the  Briar  Rose"  series  he  sets  himself 
to  represent  the  legend  of  the  Sleeping  Beauty, 
he  leads  us  from  the  outer  border  of  that  world 
of  silence  where  he  who  is  to  break  the  spell 
is  just  setting  his  foot,  through  the  charmed  wood 
and  the  council-room  and  the  garden  court,  through 
the  still  passages  and  narrow  doorways,  right  on 
to  that  moment  of  awakening  in  the  rose  bower 
which  is  the  climax  of  the  story, — but  he  does  not 
show  us  the  climax  :  he  opens  up  the  road  to  the 
imagination,  takes  it  to  the  verge  beyond  which 
he  considers  pictorial  expression  should  not  at- 
tempt to  go,  and  then  leaves  it  to  continue  on  its 
way  alone  ;  and  this  power  of  stimulating  the 
imagination  without  ever  satiating  it,  is  one  of 
the  fascinations  of  Burne-Jones's  art. 

The  legend  of  the  Sleeping  Palace  was  one 
which  had  early  thrown  its  glamour  over  him.  In 
the  first  days  of  the  firm  he  had  represented  it 
on  a  set  of  tiles  for  Mr.  Birket  Foster.  Later, 
the  Sleeping  Beauty  had  been  painted  in  water- 
colour  on  vellum,  and  about  1870,  he  started  a 
series  of  three  pictures,  never  completely  finished, 
in  oils  ;  then  a  larger  set,  including  a  fourth  sub- 
ject, was  begun,  and  this,  worked  on  at  intervals 
from  1870  to  1890,  was  purchased  by  Messrs. 
Agnew,  and,  after  being  exhibited  at  their  gallery, 
passed  into  the  possession  of  Sir  Alexander 
Henderson.  In  its  final  home  at  Buscot  Park,  it 
was  supplemented  by  intervening  panels,  painted 
by  Burne-Jones,  which  make  the  scheme  of  decora- 


THE  EIGHTIES  137 

tion  round  the  room  a  continuous  one,  and  im- 
mensely increase  the  spectator's  illusion  that  he  is 
indeed  roaming  with  the  prince  in  the  enchanted 
labyrinth.  He  wanders  first  in  the  dim  outskirts 
of  the  charmed  wood  :  then,  in  the  first  picture, 
*'The  Briarwood,"  he  enters  the  dense  thicket 
where — in  the  words  of  Morris — 

The  fateful  slumber  floats  and  flows 
About  the  tangle  of  the  rose." 

Here,  in  a  magnificently  composed  group,  lie 
the  knights  of  many  lands,  overcome  by  a  death- 
like slumber  in  the  quest  which  was  not  for 
them  ;  and  the  briar,  the  one  moving,  living 
power  in  that  strange  place,  has  coiled  itself 
about  them  and,  as  though  they  slept  in  a  cathe- 
dral vault,  has  lifted  their  shields  high  above  their 
heads.  The  little  finches  sleep  on  the  branches  ; 
there  is  not  a  stir  of  air  or  sound  ;  and  upon 
this  silent  scene  breaks  the  destined  Knight, — a 
splendid  figure,  armed  cap-a-pie,  sword  drawn  in 
readiness  for  any  encounter,  keen  eyes  beneath 
the  calm  pale  brow,  firm-set  mouth  showing  the 
dauntless  spirit,  —  type  of  the  thinker,  the  re- 
former, the  man  who  has  an  ideal  before  him, 
and  is  awake  and  free,  while  those  around  him 
lie  dreaming  old  dreams,  shackled  by  the  ties  and 
conventions  of  the  centuries  : — 

"  But  lo,  the  fated  hand  and  lieart, 
To  rend  the  slumbrous  eurse  apart." 

The  tone  of  the  picture  is  dark  and  rich  ;  gloom 
and  terror  pervade  it.    Onward,  the  wood  gets 


138  BURNE-JONES 

less  dense  ;  then  we  come  to  the  precincts  of  the 
palace,  the  first  sign  of  human  habitation,  a  cur- 
tain drawn  before  an  unseen  entrance  ;  passing 
on,  we  enter     The  Council  Chamber,''  where 

*'  The  threat  of  war,  the  hope  of  peace, 
The  king"dom's  peril  atid  increase. 
Sleep  on  and  bide  the  latter  day 
When  Fate  shall  take  her  chains  away." 

Here  sits  the  old  white-bearded  king  crowned 
with  a  tiara  and  arrayed  in  almost  pontifical 
robes  ;  his  unconscious  fingers  still  hold  the 
parchment  he  was  considering  when  the  spell  fell 
upon  the  palace.  Beside  him  sleep  his  ministers 
and  courtiers — the  statesman  with  his  diplomatic 
smile,  the  treasurer  whose  anxious  grasp  still 
holds  the  purse,  the  general  in  his  armour,  and 
many  others,  while  through  the  curtained  back- 
ground can  be  seen  glimpses  of  sleeping  guards — 
and  everywhere,  unopposed,  wreathing  itself  about 
the  sleepers,  and  the  throne,  and  the  unturned 
hour-glass,  its  lovely  curves  and  exquisite  blossom 
beautifying  everything,  the  magic  rose  encroaches. 
From  the  council  chamber,  we  pass  into  *^The 
Garden  Court  " — the  subject  omitted  in  the  smaller 
series — on  one  side  of  which  is  a  fountain,  and 
on  the  other  a  loom.  Till  now,  only  men  have 
been  seen  ;  here  there  are  only  girls  : — 

The  maiden  pleasance  of  the  land 
Knoweth  no  stir  of  voice  or  hand, 
No  cup  the  sleeping"  waters  fill. 
The  restless  shuttle  lieth  still." 


In  attitudes  of  perfect  grace   and  robed  in 


THE  EIGHTIES  139 

softest  colours,  the  sleepers  sit  or  recline.  One, 
who  had  just  thrown  the  shuttle  before  falling- 
asleep,  leans  forward  on  the  web  ;  another  is 
seated  on  the  ground,  with  her  head  on  the  knees 
of  a  third,  who  rests  against  the  framework  of 
the  loom  ;  three  others  sleep  beside  the  fountain 
near  the  pitchers  they  were  filling  ;  and  the  coils 
of  the  giant  briar,  like  an  ever-recurring  leitmotif 
linking  together  the  four  pictures,  twine  about 
the  group,  while  the  dancing  sunbeams,  which 
for  a  hundred  years  have  marked  the  unrecorded 
hours  on  the  rose-encircled  sun-dial,  play  on  the 
greeny-grey  walls  of  the  buildings  in  the  back- 
ground.^ 

Following  the  rose  onward,  in  the  next  panel, 
through  a  doorway  and  down  some  steps,  we 
come  upon  the  ashes  of  a  grate  long  cold,  and 
beside  it,  little  familiar  objects — the  cauldron,  the 
three-legged  stool,  the  bucket — standing  close  at 
hand  as  if  in  actual  use.  On  either  side  of  the 
final  picture,  there  is  a  glimpse  of  a  little  ante- 
room in  which  jewel-caskets  and  a  string  of  beads 
seen  in  a  half-open  cupboard,  suggest  the  approach 
to  that  quiet  chamber  far  apart," — **The  Rose 
Bower"  itself:  — 

"  Here  lies  the  hoarded  love,  the  key 
To  all  the  treasure  that  shall  be. 
Come,  fated  hand,  the  ^ift  to  take, 
And  smite  the  sleeping-  world  awake." 

The  princess,  in  simple  white,  a  white  coverlet 

^  It  was  this  backgfround  which  called  forth  from  Mr. 
Sedding,  the  architect,  the  remark  "  What  a  splendid  archi- 
tect  Burne-Jones  would  have  made  !  " 


I40  BURNE-JONES 

drawn  over  her  to  the  waist,  rose-flushed  like  a 
sleeping  child,  lies  on  her  couch  in  all  the  beauty 
of  her  youth  and  innocence.  The  simple  lines  of 
her  girlish  figure,  and  its  perfect  repose  and 
serenity,  recall  Carpaccio's  St.  Ursula."  Around 
her  sleep  her  maidens  ;  one,  near  the  head  of  the 
couch,  holds  a  musical  instrument ;  two  others 
are  at  her  feet ;  all  are  beautiful,  but  none  quite 
so  young  nor  quite  so  childlike  in  beauty  as  their 
mistress.  The  charm  of  her  simplicity  is  enhanced 
by  the  richness  of  her  surroundings  ;  every  inch 
of  the  canvas  is  full  of  exquisitely  wrought  design ; 
yet,  as  in  the  King  Cophetua,"  the  whole  effect 
is  in  no  way  marred  by  this  lavish  wealth  of 
detail.  At  the  first  glance  the  impression  given 
is  one  of  perfect  form  in  perfect  rest,"  and  the 
lines,  almost  all  horizontal,  are  arranged  with  the 
idea  of  emphasising  the  sense  of  repose  which 
exists  to  an  even  greater  degree  in  this  picture 
than  in  the  preceding  ones.  In  the  first  subject, 
one  feels  that  sleep  has  fallen  on  a  struggle,  in 
the  second,  on  a  grave  debate,  in  the  third,  on 
pleasant  work  and  merry  laughter,  in  all  three, 
unexpectedly  ;  but  this  is  the  chamber  of  sleep, 
and  the  princess  has  been  laid  upon  her  bed,  and 
her  maidens  have  gathered  round  her  silently  to 
watch  and  soothe  her  slumber  with  soft  music, 
and  then  gently — before  they  have  been  able  to  put 
away  the  jewels,  which  with  the  comb  and  mirror, 
and  jewelled  crown,  lie  on  the  ground  beside  the 
couch — sleep  has  overcome  them  also,  and  the 
hand  which  played  has  fallen  at  the  side  of  the 
musician,  and  only  the  growth  of  the  rose  has 


THE  EIGHTIES  141 

marked  the  silent  years  ;  invading-  the  chamber 
throug-h  the  casement,  it  has  spread  its  blossom 
everywhere, — climbing  the  Byzantine  columns,  en- 
circling the  crown,  and  filling  the  casket.  The 
colours,  for  all  their  richness,  are  such  as  to  rest 
the  eye  by  their  harmony  ;  the  subdued  ivory 
white  and  the  pearly  greys  and  rose-pinks  of  the 
centre  of  the  composition  gradually  give  way  to 
the  rich  shades  of  the  attendants'  dresses,  the 
peacock-patterned  carpet,  and  the  beautiful  hang- 
ings in  the  background,  above  which,  through  the 
casement,  is  seen  the  glowing  sky. 

The  exhibition  of  this  new  Romance  of  the 
Rose  "  called  forth  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  The 
power  of  sustained  effort  evidenced  by  it,  the  origi- 
nality, the  imaginative  charm,  the  beauty  of 
texture  and  colour,  the  richness  of  detail,  as  well 
as  the  exquisite  symbolism  which  invests  every 
part  of  it,  all  these  qualities  which  year  after  year, 
in  the  works  exhibited  by  Burne-Jones,  had  by 
degrees  been  impressing  themselves  on  the  public 
mind,  now  met  from  all  sides  with  the  full  recog- 
nition which  was  their  due,  and  which  one  is  glad 
to  think  was  given  to  the  painter  in  his  lifetime. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


LATER  WORKS 


1890-1898 


*'  The  Star  of  Bethlehem" — The  Exeter  College  tapestry — 
"  Sponsa  de  Libano  " — New  Gallery  Exhibition  1892-3 — 
Mosaics  for  American  church  in  Rome — "  Vespertina 
Quies  " — The  Stanmore  tapestries — "  The  Dream  of  Launce- 
lot"  —  "Aurora" — The  Kelmscott  Chaucej^- — Death  of 
Morris — "Arthur  in  Avalon  " — "Love's  Wayfaring" — 
Decorative  works,  portraits,  and  cartoons,  from  1878. 

''T^HE  year  following  the  completion  of  ^'The 


J"    Briar  Rose,"  Burne-Jones  exhibited  two  large 
water-colours:   ^^The  Star  of  Bethlehem"  and 
Sponsa  de  Libano." 

The  Star  of  Bethlehem,"  designed  in  the  first 
place  for  a  tapestry,  was  carried  out  as  a  picture- 
probably  the  largest  water-colour  ever  painted 
— for  the  Corporation  of  Birmingham.  It  is  a 
composition  built  up  almost  entirely  of  vertical 
lines,  so  skilfully  handled  that  no  suspicion  of 
monotony,  but  only  the  highest  degree  of  impres- 
siveness,  is  obtained.  The  Virgin  is  represented 
with  the  Child  upon  her  knees,  seated  on  a  heap 
of  straw  beneath  a  roughly  thatched  shelter  sur- 
rounded by  a  wattled  fence  ;  beside  her  stands 
Joseph,  a  bundle  of  wood  under  his  arm,  lost  in 
thought  at  the  marvels  which  he  sees  :  for — though 


142 


THE  STAR  OF  BETHLEHEM 
(  Fragment) 


LATER  WORKS  143 

winter  reigns  in  the  bleak  stretch  of  land  which 
slopes  upward  to  the  barren  wood — all  about  the 
humble  shrine  where  the  meek  Madonna  holds 
her  state,  the  wilderness  has  rejoiced  and  blos- 
somed as  the  rose,  and,  through  the  long  grass 
and  rushes,  a  spring  of  water  has  bubbled  up  to 
make  a  fertile  oasis  about  the  Holy  Child  ;  while 
before  the  little  naked  Babe,  who,  from  the  safe 
shelter  of  His  mother's  arms,  turns  His  wondering 
eyes  upon  them,  stand  the  star-guided  kings  of 
tradition,  ^*the  first  of  myscreauntes  that  byleved 
on  Christ."  No  literal  representation  of  the  story 
has  been  attempted  ;  as  usual  it  is  its  symbolic 
aspect  which  has  appealed  to  Burne-Jones,  and 
he  has  pictured  here,  not  only  the  homage  of  the 
different  races  of  mankind,  but  the  bending  down 
of  the  Heart,  Mind  and  Soul  of  humanity  before 
the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  :  the  swarthy 
African,  in  his  gorgeously  embroidered  robes,  is 
the  type  of  man's  physical  nature  ;  the  majestic 
Oriental,  in  his  turban  and  mantle,  bent  with  the 
wisdom  of  the  ages,  fittingly  represents  the  mind, 
the  intellectual  faculties  of  man  ;  the  mailed 
warrior  of  northern  or  western  race,  with  his 
spiritual  face  and  beautiful  hands,  symbolises  the 
soul,  armed  for  conflict  with  the  world  ;  each 
brings  his  crown  and  casket  of  gifts  to  the  feet 
of  the  Infant  Christ,  and  the  guiding  star  is  re- 
presented by  a  light  borne  in  the  hands  of  an 
angel  who,  motionless,  with  great  wings  and 
stately  draperies  falling  to  his  downstretched  feet, 
sheds  the  radiance  of  the  divine  light  upon  the 
scene. 


144  BURNE- JONES 

It  was  by  this  subject  that  Burne-Jones  chose 
to  be  remembered  both  in  his  native  town  and  in 
the  chapel  of  his  Oxford  College,  where  **The 
Adoration  of  the  Magi,"  wrought  in  tapestry  by 
William  Morris,  perpetuates  the  memory  of  their 
noble  friendship.  Here,  as  in  all  the  tapestries  of 
the  firm,  the  border,  flowers,  foliage,  and  details 
of  ornament  were  designed  by  Morris  and  the 
able  staff  trained  by  him.  The  colouring  also 
varies  considerably  from  the  picture  ;  the  tapestry 
glows  with  peacock  blues  and  rich  crimsons ;  while 
in  the  picture,  which  is  much  more  cold  in  colour, 
green  predominates  ;  the  embroidered  border  of 
the  old  king's  robe,  representing  knights  killing 
dragons,  the  procession  of  angels  which  adorns 
the  African's  draperies,  are  replaced  in  the  tapestry 
by  simpler  designs.  The  angel  is  in  shining  white 
and  gold,  instead  of  the  blue  and  green  and  russet 
of  the  picture,  and  he  is  nearer  to  the  other 
figures.  White  lilies — the  eff'ect  of  which,  with 
the  warm  scheme  of  colour,  is  very  beautiful — 
are  introduced  behind  the  figures.  The  Child  is 
smaller  and  less  lovely  than  the  dark-haired,  dark- 
eyed  Babe  of  the  picture,  and  the  expression  of 
the  Virgin's  face  is  less  intense,  but  it  would  be 
difficult  to  imagine  a  finer  piece  of  decoration, 
or  one  more  suited  to  the  place  it  is  meant  to 
adorn. 

Sponsa  de  Libano  "  was  developed  from  one 
of  a  series  of  five  drawings  from  ^*The  Song  of 
Songs,"  done  in  1876  and  originally  meant  for 
needlework.  It  illustrates  the  words  :  Awake, 
O  north  wind  ;  and  come,  thou  south  ;  blow  upon 


SPONSA  DE  LIBANO 


LATER  WORKS  145 

my  garden,  that  the  spices  thereof  may  flow  out." 
Here  a  distant  inspiration  can  be  traced  to  Botti- 
celli's Birth  of  Venus,"  both  in  the  attitude  of 
the  woman's  figure  and  in  the  representation  of 
the  Winds,  but  there  the  resemblance  ceases,  for 
the  narrow,  upright  composition,  its  upper  part 
almost  entirely  filled  by  the  magnificent  mass  of 
swirling  draperies  which  surround  the  ethereal 
floating  figures,  the  pensive  grace  of  the  Bride  of 
Lebanon  as  her  lovely  feet  follow  the  windings  of 
the  shallow  rivulet  which  waters  her  tall  lilies, 
these  things — as  well  as  every  feature  of  the  land- 
scape and  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the  picture — 
are  peculiarly  characteristic  of  Burne-Jones. 

In  1891  a  serious  illness  interrupted  the  master's 
work,  and  consequently  nothing  new  was  shown 
in  1892,  but  the  winter  was  marked  by  a  memor- 
able exhibition  at  the  New  Gallery  of  a  collection 
of  finished  works,  studies,  sketches,  and  designs, 
showing  the  evolution  of  his  art  from  the  be- 
ginning of  his  career  to  his  splendid  maturity. 

Among  the  works  first  finished  after  his  return 
to  health  were  some  designs  begun  in  1882  for 
the  decoration  in  mosaic  of  the  American  church 
in  Rome.  This  was  a  commission  which  par- 
ticularly pleased   Burne-Jones,  for  as  he  said  : 

It  is  to  be  in  Rome,  and  it  is  to  last  for  eternity." 
Full  as  he  was  of  the  study  of  Byzantine  art,  no 
one  understood  better  the  possibilities  and  restric- 
tions of  mosaic  ;  and  the  designs  he  produced, 
carried  out  by  the  Murano  Glass  Company,  are 
the  most  beautiful  examples  of  modern  decorative 
art  in  Rome.    He  filled  the  upper  part  of  the  half 

L 


146  BURNE-JONES 

dome  of  the  apse  with  a  circling  glory  of  angels 
singing  to  their  golden  harps  ;  clouds  float  beneath 
their  feet,  and  against  a  deep  blue  sky  rise  the 
golden  ramparts  of  Heaven.  The  central  place, 
above  the  altar,  is  occupied  by  the  throne  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who,  draped  in  white,  with  the  rain- 
bow beneath  His  feet,  holds  the  orb  in  His  left 
hand,  and  lifts  the  right  in  benediction.  The 
figure  preserves  the  stateliness,  the  ordered  stiff- 
ness and  formality  of  Byzantine  art,  and  yet  attains 
that  ideal  of  beauty,  which,  though  within  the 
mind,  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the  artists  of  those 
early  times.  The  Christ  is  surrounded  by  angels 
of  different  orders  of  the  heavenly  hierarchy,  and 
beneath  the  rainbow  spring  the  four  rivers  of 
Paradise,  which,  flowing  to  right  and  left,  wash 
the  foundations  of  the  wall.  On  each  side  of  the 
throne  are  seen  three  of  the  gates  of  Heaven, 
guarded,  all  but  one,  by  archangels.  The  first 
place  on  the  right  hand  of  Christ,  that  of  Lucifer, 
stands  empty — a  fine  dramatic  conception.  The 
other  gates  are  guarded  by  Michael  and  Uriel, 
and  those  on  the  left  by  Gabriel,  Chemuel,  and 
Zophiel,  each  bearing  their  special  attributes. 

Other  designs  for  the  same  church  were  *^The 
Annunciation"  and  *'The  Nativity,"  carried  out 
over  two  arches;   ^*The  End  of  the  World"; 

The  Fall  of  Lucifer,"  later  painted  as  a  picture  ; 
and  *  *  The  Tree  of  Life, " — the  most  beautiful  of  all, 
and  the  most  stamped  with  Burne-Jones's  individ- 
uality— executed  in  the  space  above  the  chancel 
arch.  The  cartoon  for  this  is,  with  the  plaster 
model  for  the  apse,  in  the  Victoria  and  Albert 


VESPERTINA  QUIES 


LATER  WORKS  147 

Museum,  and,  in  the  sketch-book  left  by  the  artist 
to  the  British  Museum,  the  development  of  the 
design  can  be  traced  from  its  first  idea.  In  the 
centre  rises  the  Tree  of  Life — Igdrasil,  whose 
boughs  reach  into  heaven,  and  whose  roots  into 
hell — and,  on  the  tree.  His  head  bent  lovingly 
forward.  His  arms  outstretched  horizontally  in 
the  manner  in  which  early  Christian  art  loved  to 
represent  the  idea  of  universal  redemption,  His 
feet  against  the  trunk — not  nailed  to  the  tree,  but 
bestowing  Himself  willingly — is  the  Son  of  Man. 
On  either  side,  the  human  race  is  typified  by 
Adam  and  Eve  standing  in  attitudes  of  adoration 
beneath  the  outstretched  hands.  Beside  the  figure 
of  the  man  is  a  cornfield  ripe  for  harvest  ;  tall 
Madonna  lilies  spring  up  beside  Eve  and  her 
children.  The  sweeping  curves  of  the  landscape, 
the  severe  silhouette  of  earth  and  tree  against  the 
pale  sky,  the  simple  grandeur  of  the  composition 
and  its  splendid  adaptation  to  the  space  it  has  to 
fill  are  admirable. 

In  1894  the  replica  in  oils  of  the  damaged  Love 
among  the  Ruins  "  was  exhibited,  and  with  it  a 
harmony  in  blue  and  gold,  a  vision  of  peace  and 
restfulness,  entitled,  ^^Vespertina  Quies."  It 
represents  a  beautiful  young  girl  with  brown  hair 
falling  over  her  shoulders,  leaning  on  a  balcony 
in  the  soft  evening  light  and  dreamily  toying  with 
a  ring  on  her  little  finger.  Behind  her  is  seen  the 
quiet  convent  with  its  grass-grown  court,  and 
beyond  that  the  wooded  hillside  slopes  upward  to 
the  luminous  sky. 

A  series  of  designs  for  tapestry  from  the  Moric 


148  BURNE-JONES 

d' Arthur  belongs  also  to  this  time.  It  began 
with  The  Apparition  of  the  Damsel  of  the 
San  Grael  to  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table/* 
then  showed  ^^The  Departure  of  the  Knights/' 
*^The  Failure  of  Sir  Gawaine  and  Sir  Ywaine," 

The  Dream  of  Launcelot/'  Sir  Bors,  Sir  Per- 
ceval and  Sir  Galahad  at  the  chapel  of  the  San 
Grael,"  and  ended  by  a  fine  decorative  panel, 
*^The  Ship  of  the  Knights a  ^^Verdura," 
representing  deer  grazing  in  a  wood,  the  branches 
of  which  are  hung  with  shields,  was  also  designed  to 
run  beneath  the  figure  subjects.  These  tapestries, 
executed  for  Stanmore  Hall  and  repeated  for  Mr. 
George  McCulloch,  were  the  chief  beauty  of  the 
British  Pavilion  at  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1900. 

Pictures  were  also  painted  of  some  of  these 
subjects,  and,  in  1896,  an  oil-painting  of  the 
fourth  of  the  series  was  exhibited  ;  it  varies  from 
the  tapestry  in  the  attitude  and  expression  of  the 
angel,  who,  while  uttering  the  words  of  reproba- 
tion, Sir  Launcelot,  more  hard  than  is  the  stone, 
and  more  bitter  than  is  the  wood,  and  more  naked 
and  barer  than  is  the  leaf  of  the  fig-tree,  therefore 
go  thou  from  hence,  and  withdraw  thee  from  this 
holy  place,"  gazes  with  infinite  regret  and  pity  on 
the  exhausted  recumbent  figure. 

In  Aurora,"  also  shown  in  1896,  the  spirit  of 
the  dawn  is  represented  by  a  maiden,  who,  with 
the  grace  of  motion  and  the  light-footedness  of  a 
figure  by  Botticelli,  comes  dancing  along  the 
narrow  causeway  beside  the  still  canal,  clashing 
her  cymbals  to  awaken  the  sleeping  houses.  The 
background  and  surroundings  were  developed  from 


AURORA 


LATER  WORKS  149 

a  sketch  done  in  1867,  from  a  bridge  over  a  canal 
near  the  railway  station  at  Oxford,  a  spot  recog- 
nisable even  now,  and  which  at  once  recalls  the 
picture  to  anyone  who  knows  and  loves  it. 

The  same  year  saw  the  completion  of  the 
magnificent  Kelmscott  Chaucer  for  which  Burne- 
Jones  had  drawn  eighty-seven  illustrations,  while 
the  title,  initials  and  borders  had  been  designed 
by  Morris.  For  years  it  had  been  the  friends* 
habit  to  spend  their  Sunday  mornings  together, 
designing  for  The  Earthly  Paradise^  or  for  editions 
of  their  favourite  authors  which  Morris  was  always 
planning  and  insisting  that  Burne-Jones  should 
illustrate.  Mr.  Mackail  relates  that  on  one  of  the 
many  occasions  when  Morris  was  pressing  Burne- 
Jones  for  more  drawings  for  his  press,  the  latter 
turned  to  him  with  the  words,  You  would  think, 
to  listen  to  Top,  that  I  was  the  only  artist  in  the 
world,'* — and  that  Morris's  comment  was — **Well, 
perhaps  you  wouldn't  be  so  far  wrong."  The 
Chaucer  had  been  to  both  a  labour  of  infinite  love 
— a  sort  of  Chartres  de  poche  they  intended  it  to 
be,  in  the  perfection  and  richness  of  all  its  details, 
— and  they  accomplished  their  aim,  leaving  it  a 
splendid  monument  of  their  joint  efforts,  and  start- 
ing, with  its  production,  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  artistic  publication.  The  illustrations,  with  their 
perfect  composition,  their  simple  charm  and  be- 
witching imaginative  power,  must  be  studied  in 
the  book  to  be  appreciated  at  their  full  value. 

Many  other  designs  for  the  Kelmscott  Press 
were  made  or  begun  by  Burne-Jones  ;  among  them 
a  series  of  about  two  hundred  drawings  for  Mr. 


ISO  BURNE-JONES 

Mackail's  Bihlia  hmocentiiimy  twenty-five  of  which 
were  so  far  carried  out  that  it  has  lately  been 
found  possible  to  publish  them.^    Of  other  works 
intended,  a  great  Froissart^  and  a  Morte  d' Arthur ^ 
which  was  to  have  been  even  more  magnificent 
than  the  Chaucer^  were  the  principal — but  these 
were  never  to  be  produced :  Morris's  health,  which 
had  long  been  failing,  at  last  gave  out,  and  on 
the  3rd  of  October  1896,  less  than  six  months 
after  the  completion  of  the  Chaucer,  Burne-Jones 
lost  the  friend  who  had  been  to  him  more  than  a 
brother.       I  should  be  like  a  man  who  had  lost 
his  back,"  he  had  once  said,  speaking  of  what 
Morris's  death  would  be  to  him  ;  and  he  was  not 
long  to  survive  him ; — only  for  a  little  more  than  a 
year  and  a  half  was  work  to  be  continued  on  the 
many  canvases  which  he  used  playfully  to  tell 
his  friends  would  require  '^at  least  a  hundred 
years "  to  finish.    With  the  consistency  which 
marked  all  his  life,  the  subjects  now  occupying 
him  were  still  drawn  from  the  same  sources  in 
which  thirty  years  before  he  had  found  his  artistic 
inspiration.    Still  the  same  glamour  hung  about 
the  verse  of  Chaucer  and  the  legend  of  King 
Arthur  as  when  he  and  Morris  pored  over  them 
in  their  Oxford  days,  and  the  last  picture  to  leave 
his  studio  for  the  New  Gallery  Exhibition  was  a 
painting  of  **The  Prioress's  Tale,"  the  same  sub- 
ject which  he  had  painted  in  1857  on  the  cabinet 
for  Morris  in  the  rooms  at  Red  Lion  Square. 
The  last  picture  to  be  worked  upon  was  the 

^  The  Beginning  of  the  World.  Longmans,  Green  and 
Co.,  London,  IQ02. 


LATER  WORKS  151 

great  Arthur  in  Avalon."  This  had  been  begun 
in  1881,  and  a  sketch  of  the  first  idea  for  the 
composition,  as  well  as  many  studies  for  the 
figures,  are,  with  the  picture  itself,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Mr.  Sydney  Goldmann.  Here  the  fairy 
dwelling  of  Avalon  is  represented  by  a  two-winged 
Byzantine  colonnade.  In  the  enclosed  space, 
under  a  canopy  of  beaten  gold  on  which  is  repre- 
sented the  Quest  of  the  Grael,  lies  the  mail-clad 
sleeping  warrior.  Two  of  the  queens  who  have 
brought  him  thither  sit  in  attitudes  of  lamenta- 
tion at  his  head  and  at  his  feet,  while  the  third, 
standing  behind  the  couch,  holds  in  readiness  for 
him  the  crown  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  future, 
that  of  the  past  being  represented  by  the  diadem 
deposited  on  the  ground  : — 

Hie  jacet  Arihurus,  rex  qxioiidam,  rexqiie  Jiitunis*' 

One  attendant  stands  watching  ;  four  others 
sitting  on  the  ground  play  softly  on  stringed  in- 
struments. On  either  side  stand  groups  of 
watchers,  three  of  whom  hold  the  helmet,  shield, 
and  spear,  while  others  wait  anxiously  for  the 
time  when  they  may  raise  their  great  trumps  to 
their  lips,  and  herald  the  awakening  of  the  de- 
liverer. In  the  foreground,  the  iris,  columbine, 
and  forget-me-not  grow  in  wild  luxuriance  on  the 
enchanted  shore,  and  beyond,  above  the  colon- 
nade and  the  trees  which  close  the  view  on  either 
side,  are  seen  the  sweeping  curves  of  a  desolate 
expanse  of  country.  In  the  original  conception, 
side  panels  were  to  have  represented  Arthur's  last 
great  battle,  but  this  idea  was  abandoned  for 


152  BURNE-JONES 

another,  in  which  the  hill-fairies  and  spirits  of 
nature  were  to  have  been  shown  sharing  the 
anxious  expectations  of  humanity.  Studies  for 
these  exist,  but  were  never  carried  out.  Fortu- 
nately the  picture  itself,  the  largest  the  artist  ever 
painted,  was  nearly  completed  when  he  laid  down 
his  brush  for  the  last  time. 

Another  great  picture,  which,  with  ^^The  Wheel 
of  Fortune,"  recalls  perhaps  more  than  any  other 
of  his  works  the  characteristics  of  Michel  Angelo, 
was  to  be  called  Love's  Wayfaring."^  It  had 
been  drawn  full  size  on  the  canvas,  and  in  its 
unfinished  state  can  be  seen  at  the  Garden  Studio. 
High  on  his  massive  car,  Love,  as  though  im- 
patient of  the  slowness  of  his  advance,  has 
stepped  from  his  throne,  and  seems  to  be  urging 
his  victims  onward.  Down  the  arched  and  narrow 
street  they  come — a  crowd  of  men  and  women 
with  wistful,  haunting  faces — and  all  who  meet 
his  ponderous  wheels  must  perforce  turn  back 
and  join  in  Love's  wayfaring,  for  there  is  no  room 
on  either  side  for  any  to  pass  by  and  thus  escape 
his  yoke.  A  note  in  Burne-Jones's  diary,  as  far 
back  as  1872,  mentions  Love's  Wayfaring  "  as 
one  of  four  subjects  which  above  all  others  I 
desire  to  paint,  and  count  my  chief  designs  for 
some  time  to  come,"  and  one  cannot  but  regret 
that  press  of  other  work  did  not  allow  the  comple- 
tion of  this  picture  which,  by  no  less  an  authority 
than  Mr.  Watts,  whose  admiration  for  the  work  of 
his  friend  is  well  known,  is  pronounced  to  have 
been  the  grandest  of  all  his  conceptions. 

1  Or  ''The  Car  of  Love." 


STUDY  OF  A  HEAD 


LATER  WORKS  153 

The  last  entry  in  the  same  diary  tells  of  the 
beginning  of  a  design  for  tapestry, — **The  Passing 
of  Venus,'' — that  the  traditions  of  tapestry 
weaving  at  Merton  Abbey  might  not  be  forgotten 
or  cease."  For  this  a  water-colour  sketch  of 
great  beauty,  the  first  idea  of  which  is  to  be 
found  in  the  background  of  Laus  Veneris,"  was 
done  ;  it  represents  Venus  drifting  by  in  a  winged 
chariot  drawn  by  doves,  while  from  a  bevy  of 
girls  in  the  foreground  Love  selects  his  victims. 
Some  fly  startled  at  his  approach,  one  falls  beneath 
his  feet,  but  the  tallest  and  fairest  stands  erect, 
and  bravely  meeting  his  gaze,  bares  her  bosom  to 
receive  the  shaft. 

Among  the  decorative  works  produced  since  1878 
were  designs  for  a  Nativity"  and  Entomb- 
ment," made  for  a  tomb  at  Castle  Howard,  and 
one  representing  Flodden  Field,"  for  Naworth 
Castle,  all  three  of  which  were  carried  out  in 
bronze  by  Sir  Edgar  Boehm.  A  coloured  memorial 
tablet  to  Mrs.  Alfred  Lyttelton,  in  which,  as  in 
the  church  of  St.  Apollinare  in  Classe,  the  pea- 
cock is  used  as  the  symbol  of  immortality,  was 
executed  in  gesso  in  1886  ;  in  the  same  material, 

Cupid's  Hunting  Fields,"  already  several  times 
repeated  in  oils  in  different  schemes  of  colour, 
was  made  the  subject  of  a  beautiful  panel  ;  a 
cassone  was  adorned  with  a  design  of  **The 
Hesperides,"  and  a  casket  with  one  of  Pan- 
dora." A  clavichord  by  Mr.  Dolmetsch  was 
painted  for  Mrs.  Mackail  with  a  representation 
of  St.  Margaret,"  and  a  charming  little  fantasy, 
worked  on  at  intervals  during  this  period,  was 


154  BURNE-JONES 

**The  Flower  Book,"  composed  of  a  series  of 
small  circular  paintings  inspired  by  the  names  of 
flowers;  thus  Golden  Thread"  suggested  the 
story  of  Theseus  and  the  Clue,  and  Love  in  a 
Tangle  "  that  of  Fair  Rosamond  ;  Golden  Cup  " 
is  the  Angel  of  the  San  Grael  passing  by  the  sleep- 
ing Launcelot ;  the  name  of  Meadowsweet "  is 
represented  by  Arthur's  passage  to  the  fairy 
meadow  of  Avalon  ;  White  Garden"  is  the  An- 
nunciation among  the  lihes;  Flower  of  God,"  the 
Annunciation  in  a  cornfield;  Traveller's  Joy," 
the  Manger  of  Bethlehem  appearing  to  the  weary 
kings,  and  Arbor  Tristis,"  the  foot  of  the  cross 
at  nightfall,  with  Jerusalem  in  the  background. 

Work  of  an  altogether  different  kind  was  the 
designing  of  all  the  armour,  costumes,  and  ac- 
cessories for  Mr.  Comyns  Carr's  play  of  King 
Arthur^  produced  at  the  Lyceum  in  1895. 

Although  constantly  importuned  to  paint  por- 
traits, it  was  scarcely  to  be  expected  from  an 
artist  of  Burne-Jones's  imaginative  temperament 
that  he  would  devote  much  attention  to  this  branch 
of  art.  His  opinion  of  his  capacities  in  this  re- 
spect was  humorously  given  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  : 

Did  you  see,"  he  wrote,  that  a  certain  photo- 
grapher set  up  in  Paris  once,  and  advertised  his 
work  thus  : — 

Ressemblance  frappante        .    5  f*^^ 
Ressemblance  ordinaire  .        .    2  f 50 
Air  de  famille        .        .       .    o  f  ^«  50 

I  should  never  get  more  than  50  c.  for  my  like- 
nesses !  '' 


PHILIP  COMYNS  CARR 


LATER  WORKS  155 

In  spite  of  this  modest  estimate  of  his  ability, 
he  was  singularly  happy  in  the  comparatively  few 
portraits  he  executed.  His  pencil  study  of  Pade- 
rewski  "  is  well  known  ;  so  are  the  painting  of 

Miss  Gaskell,"  and  the  two  contrasting  child 
portraits  of  Philip  Comyns  Carr,"and  Dorothy 
Drew," — the  one  intensely  serious,  with  earnest 
eyes  and  ethereal  face,  the  other  a  delicious,  pixie- 
like, barefooted  child,  with  mischief-loving  eyes, 
and  a  mass  of  curly  hair.  This  is  said  to  have 
been,  of  all  the  painter's  works,  the  one  he  found 
the  most  difficult  to  accomplish,  probably  because 
of  the  impossibility  of  keeping  such  a  lively  little 
maiden,  for  even  a  few  minutes  at  a  time,  in  any- 
thing like  the  position  required  ;  it  needed,  he 
said,  all  the  respect  and  admiration  he  felt  for  the 
child's  grandfather  to  prevent  him  from  giving  up 
the  attempt  in  despair.  Many  years  before,  he 
had  done  in  subdued  light  and  shade  a  pencil 
drawing  of  Miss  Gladstone  which  had  called 
forth  Ruskin's  praise.  Other  portraits  were  of 
the  Misses  Graham,  and  of  Mr.  Graham,  of  Mr. 
Benson,  of  Miss  Gertrude  and  Miss  Katherine 
Lewis,  and  a  very  fine  one,  in  profile,  holding  her 
violin,  of  the  daughter  of  Professor  Norton,  of 
Harvard.  In  his  own  family,  he  painted  a  por- 
trait of  his  wife,  in  black,  her  two  children — the 
boy  painting,  the  girl  looking  on — seen  in  the 
background  ;  and  several  of  his  daughter,  now 
Mrs.  Mackail,  whose  face,  as  well  as  her  mother's, 
appears  so  often  in  his  pictures.  The  one  in  which 
she  sits  in  a  blue  dress,  one  sweet-pea  blossom  at 
her  throat  for  all  ornament,  the  beautiful  line 


156  BURNE-JONES 

of  her  profil  perdu  reflected  in  a  circular  mirror 
behind  her,  is  the  best  known  ;  there  is  also  a 
symphony  in  white,  in  which  she  is  seen  in  profile 
holding  a  book,  and  a  half-length  standing  por- 
trait, and  in  all  three  the  same  exquisite  hands 
appear.  One  of  the  last  canvases  Burne-Jones 
worked  upon  was  a  delightful  portrait  which  re- 
mained unfinished,  of  his  little  blue-eyed  grand- 
son, in  a  blue  jersey  against  a  dark  blue  back- 
ground. A  great  number  of  chalk  and  pencil 
portraits  were  done,  and  among  the  studies  for 
pictures  are  many  drawings  done  from  friends 
whose  faces  lent  themselves  to  the  subjects  which 
were  in  the  artist's  mind,  and  which,  while  being 
studies  for  those  subjects,  are  at  the  same  time 
excellent  portraits  ;  such  is  the  fine  red  chalk 
study  of  **Melchior,"  drawn  from  Mr.  Mackail, 
for  ^*The  Star  of  Bethlehem." 

Only  a  few  of  the  cartoons  for  glass  can  here 
be  mentioned  ;  one,  very  characteristic  and  in- 
teresting, was  designed  for  the  Church  of  the 
Holy   Trinity,    Boston,    U.S.A.  ;    it  represents 

David  instructing  Solomon  in  the  Building  of 
the  Temple."  The  old  mail-clad  king,  his  mighty 
sword  at  his  side,  sits  on  a  throne  of  Byzantine 
design,  showing  his  son,  whose  peaceful  character 
is  betokened  by  his  student's  garb,  a  plan  of  the 
Temple  he  is  to  build.  At  the  foot  of  the  throne 
are  the  coffers  of  gold  dedicated  to  the  sacred 
work,  and  beside  them  sit  the  scribes  taking 
notes  and  making  researches  in  old  books.  On 
one  side  stand  the  warriors,  in  mediaeval  accou- 
trements,  on   whose  banners   are  pictured  the 


LATER  WORKS  157 

valiant  deeds  of  the  king's  youth  ;  on  the  other, 
women  are  bringing"  their  jewels  to  add  to  the 
building  fund. 

Another  commission  for  windows  was  for  a 
house  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  Here,  since 
their  purport  was  to  adorn  a  private  dwelling, 
free  scope  was  given  to  the  artist's  imagination 
in  the  choice  of  subject.  His  knowledge  of  archae- 
ology and  love  of  old  traditions  at  once  inspired 
him  with  the  thought  of  commemorating  the 
Norse  heroes,  who,  four  hundred  years  before  the 
^*  discovery  "  of  America,  sailed  the  unknown  seas 
and  left  a  record  of  their  visit  to  the  country  they 
called  *^  Vineland,"  in  the  old  round  tower  which 
still  stands  at  Newport.  **Thorfinn  Karlsefne," 
*^Leif  the  Lucky,"  and  ^*Gudrida,  wife  of  Thor- 
stein,"  were  the  three  selected  to  occupy  the  lower 
lights,  while  in  the  upper  ones,  seated  above  the 
clouds,  are  shown  the  Northern  gods,  **Thor," 
**Odin,"  and  Frey." 

Admirable  as  Burne-Jones's  windows  are,  none 
are  finer  than  those  in  St.  Philip's  Church,  Bir- 
mingham. Here,  while  remaining  strictly  within 
the  limitations  of  stained  glass,  he  obtained  a 
quite  extraordinary  degree  of  effectiveness,  and 
produced  works  which  are  probably  the  highest 
attainment  of  modern  times  in  this  branch  of  art. 

The  first  to  be  executed,  for  the  two  sides  of 
the   great  east  window,  were  the  well  -  known 

Nativity"  and  Crucifixion,"  the  cartoons  for 
which,  shown  in  1888  at  the  first  exhibition  of  the 
Arts  and  Crafts  Society  which  Burne-Jones  did  so 
much  to  promote,  are  now  in  the  Victoria  and 


IS8  BURNE-JONES 

Albert  Museum.  In  ^^The  Nativity/'  in  the  upper- 
part  of  the  window,  against  a  background  of  trees 
whose  trunks  are  illumined  by  the  light  from  the 
celestial  vision,  the  angels  are  appearing  to  the 
dazzled  shepherds.  Below,  under  the  rocky  ledges 
which  divide  the  composition  into  two  parts,  is 
seen  the  cave  of  Bethlehem,  where  a  host  of 
seraphs  join  with  Joseph  and  Mary  in  adoration 
of  the  new-born  Babe.  The  balance  of  line  and 
mass,  the  richness  of  imagination  which  has  filled 
every  space  with  contrasting  and  yet  harmonious 
elements,  and  the  skill  with  which  the  tiny  figure 
lying  on  the  ground  is  made  the  centre  of  interest, 
can  well  be  judged  from  the  cartoon — nor  is  The 
Crucifixion "  less  wonderful.  Above  the  dense 
mass  of  humanity  which  surrounds  the  foot  of  the 
Cross,  is  seen  in  supreme  and  solemn  grandeur, 
the  figure  of  Christ.  The  vertical  lines  of  the 
spears  and  banners  which  surround  Him  seem  to 
increase  the  idea  of  elevation,  as  He  hangs  there 
in  unapproachable  loneliness,  against  a  lurid  sky 
whose  darkness  is  made  more  intense  by  the  weird 
circles  of  light  which  break  through  it.  Below, 
in  the  foreground,  are  the  holy  women  and  St. 
John  ;  beyond,  the  Roman  soldiers,  one  of  whom, 
distinguished  by  a  halo,  raises  his  spear  ;  beyond 
these  are  the  cruel  faces  of  the  priests  and 
Pharisees,  and  in  the  distance,  the  battlemented 
city  walls  loom  dark  against  the  horizon.  Later, 
between  these  two  subjects,  The  Ascension" 
was  represented  ;  the  composition  is  very  simple, 
the  colour  deep  and  rich  ;  the  disciples  and  the  holy 
women  stand  gazing  upwards  ;  above,  separated 


THE  NATIVITY 
rtoo)i  for  stdined  g;lass) 


THE  CRUCIFIXION 
(Cartoon  for  staineii  ^lass) 


LATER  WORKS  159 

from  them  by  a  band  of  deep  blue  sky  broken  by 
luminous  lines,  Christ  ascends,  surrounded  by  the 
hosts  of  heaven.  It  is  not  the  glory  of  the  As- 
cension, but  the  sadness  of  separation  which 
Burne-Jones  has  chosen  to  express,  and  the  pity- 
ing Saviour,  who,  with  hand  raised  in  blessing, 
looks  down  regretfully  on  the  little  group,  is  still 
the  Man  of  Sorrows.  From  the  deep  solemnity 
of  the  east  end,  turning  to  leave  the  church,  one 
is  met  by  a  blaze  of  light  from  the  west  window, 
where,  over  the  font  where  he  was  baptised, 
Burne-Jones  has  represented  Christ's  glorious 
return.  In  the  subject  of  The  Last  Judgment," 
put  up  only  the  year  before  his  death,  he  has 
pictured,  not  the  terrors  of  the  last  day,  but  its 
triumphant  glory  :  Christ,  a  resplendent  figure, 
the  whiteness  of  whose  garment  is  made  more 
dazzling  by  the  flame-coloured  wings  and  robes 
of  the  angels  who  surround  Him,  descends  in 
majesty.  In  the  centre  of  the  composition  a  great 
angel  flying  before  Him  blows  the  trump  of  doom  ; 
below,  standing  on  the  tombs,  the  lines  of  which 
break  the  foreground,  is  a  crowd  of  men,  women, 
and  children  in  attitudes  of  wonder  ;  beyond  them 
is  a  dark  band  of  buildings  which  are  being  shaken 
to  their  foundations.  The  window  flames  with 
radiant  colour — it  is  like  a  magnificent  dawn,  and 
it  is  impossible  for  its  efl'ect  to  be  imagined  by 
anyone  who  has  not  seen  it.  The  cartoon  gives 
no  idea  of  it.  Nevertheless  the  two  first  windows 
are  the  finest,  both  in  design  and  in  the  manner 
in  which  they  have  been  executed. 

The  last  window  designed  by  Burne-Jones  was 


i6o  BURNE- JONES 

unveiled  in  Hawarden  Church  a  week  after  the 
great  statesman  whose  golden  wedding  it  com- 
memorated had  been  laid  to  rest  in  Westminster 
Abbey  ;  its  subject  was  again  The  Nativity,"  to 
Burne-Jones  a  never  wearying  theme,  and  one 
with  which  his  mind  was  constantly  occupied. 
Only  a  few  weeks  before  he  passed  away,  meeting 
a  friend  casually  in  the  street,  as  he  went  along 
lost  in  reverie,  he  quoted  to  him  a  little  Christmas 
carol  of  strange  mediaeval  charm,  written  by 
Morris  more  than  forty  years  before  in  the  Oxford 
mid  Cambridge  Magazine^  and  told  him  how  *Mn 
a  hundred  ways  for  years  past,"  but  chiefly  since 
Morris's  death,  because  they  had  talked  of  it  to- 
gether not  long  before  the  latter  died,  he  had 
pondered  yet  another    Ave  Maria."^ 

It  was  thus,  with  his  mind  still  full  of  beautiful 
visions,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  powers,  and  ob- 
taining his  wish  that  he  might  be  spared  a  linger- 
ing illness,  and  work  till  the  end,  that  his  career 
closed.  Early  in  1898  a  severe  attack  of  influenza 
had  weakened  his  health,  but  he  regained  his 
strength,  and  was  able  to  resume  his  work,  and 
it  was  with  a  shock  of  surprise  and  grief  that,  on 
the  morning  of  the  17th  of  June,  a  world  in  which 
his  name  had  become  a  well-loved  household  word 
learnt  that  he  had  succumbed  in  the  night  to  an 
attack  of  angina  pectoris.  The  evening  before, 
laying  down  his  brushes,  he  had  confessed  to  a 
feeling  of  tiredness,  and  had  spoken  of  going  for 
one  of  his  so-called  holidays  to  Rottingdean.  It 

^  The  Fortnightly  Review,  August,  1898,  Edward  Burne- 
Jones."    By  William  Sharp. 


LATER  WORKS 


i6i 


was  there  that  on  the  21st  of  June,  in  the  little 
church  radiant  with  the  g"lory  of  the  windows 
designed  by  him,^  his  funeral  service  took  place, 
and  there  his  ashes  rest,  in  the  quiet  churchyard, 
among  the  flowers  he  so  loved,  within  sound  of 
the  sea. 

Gone  from  King-  Arthur  and  his  table  round, 

To  join  the  knig-htliest  souls  who  reig-n  in  heaven."*-^ 

^  The  east  window  of  St.  Marg-aret's  Church,  Rotting-- 
dean,  representing  the  three  Archangels  Gabriel,  Michael 
and  Raphael,"  was  Sir  Edward  and  Lady  Burne-Jones's 
offering-  on  the  occasion  of  their  daughter's  marriage. 
Other  Burne-Jones  and  Morris  windows  in  the  same  church 
represent  ''The  Tree  of  David,"  "Jacob's  Ladder,"  "St. 
Margaret,"  "St.  Mary,"  and  "St.  Martin." 

2  The  Artist^  xxii. ,  "In  Memoriam.  Sir  Edward  Burne- 
Jones."    By  Canon  Rawnsley. 


M 


CHAPTER  IX 


CONCLUSION 

Summary — Honours  conferred  upon  Burne-Jones — Exhibitions 
of  his  works — His  method  of  work — Some  features  of  his 
work — His  character. 

IT  has  been  seen  that  Burne-Jones's  career 
divides  itself  into  two  periods  ;  the  first,  of 
very  short  duration,  in  which  Rossetti  was  looked 
upon  as  the  one  and  only  g'uide,  and  any  diver- 
gence from  his  style  appeared  as  a  false  step  to 
be  retraced  as  soon  as  possible  "  ;  and  the  second 
embracing"  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  showing  the 
gradual  development  and  mastery  of  his  own 
method. 

Comparison  between  the  earliest  and  latest 
works  shows  the  consistency  of  aim  and  effort 
which  unites  both  periods.  The  technical  change 
is  of  course  immense,  but  there  is  no  aesthetic 
one.  His  mind  was  already  very  highly  trained 
when  art  was  taken  up  as  a  profession,  and, 
though  its  expression  was  hampered  at  first  by 
the  unpractised  hand,  there  was  never  any  hesita- 
tion as  to  the  intended  aim.  From  Rossetti, 
Burne-Jones  gained  confidence  in  himself  and 
courage  to  follow  his  star ;  and  from  Ruskin, 
Madox  Brown,  G.  F.  Watts,  and  the  Pre-Raphael- 

162 


CONCLUSION  163 

ites  with  whom,  through  Rossetti,  he  came  into 
contact,  he  learnt  to  seek  the  power  he  needed 
in  the  most  conscientious  study  of  nature.^  In 
spite  of  technical  deficiencies,  the  works  of  this 
time — done  simply  with  **the  wish  to  put  figures 
down  on  paper  and  make  them  look  as  if  they 
were  doing  what  the  story  said  they  did  " — show 
the  born  artist,  not  only  by  the  imaginative  power, 
spontaneity  of  design  and  sense  of  style  revealed 
in  the  slightest  of  them,  but  above  all  by  their 
beauty  of  colour, — colour  magnificently  sombre, 
exuberantly  rich,  and  sometimes  so  exquisitely 
profound  as  to  be  poetry  itself  ;  such  in  short  as 
we  find  in  the  pictures  of  Giorgione  and  of  his 
only."-^ 

Conscious  of  his  shortcomings  and  determined  to 
overcome  them,  and  further  stimulated  by  his  visits 
to  Italy,  Burne-Jones  soon  added  the  study  of  the 
old  masters  to  that  of  nature.  He  noted  the  per- 
fection of  line  and  form  of  the  world's  masterpieces. 
He  adored"  Raphael;  Carpaccio,  Botticelli, 
Signorelli,  Mantegna,  Michel  Angelo,  in  turn 
exercised  their  infiuence  over  him.  He  studied, 
experimented,  tried  new  methods, — his  fertile 
imagination  the  while  constantly  suggesting  new 
subjects,  new  compositions  :  innumerable  draw- 
ings were  made  for  these  and  a  vast  number  of 

^  Ruskin  was  for  ever  urg^ing'  dear  old  Ned"  not  to 
depend  on  his  own  invention,  as  he  was  often  tempted  to 
do  by  his  creative  powers  of  design,  but  to  go  to  nature 
for  everything. 

'•^  The  Portjolio^  vol.  xvi,  1885,  "  Edward  Hurne-Jones, 
A,R.A."    By  F.  G.  Stephens. 


i64  BURNE-JONES 

pictures  begun,  each  of  which  when  completed 
became  the  epitome  of  the  work  of  years. ^  He 
familiarised  himself  with  all  forms  of  art,  with 
the  marbles  of  the  Parthenon,  the  mosaics  of 
Ravenna,  Etruscan  vases,  Pompeian  frescoes, 
Arab  tiles.  Oriental  embroideries,  mediaeval  illu- 
minations, the  works  of  the  Quattrocentisti  and 
the  great  masters  of  the  Renaissance,  as  well  as 
with  the  architecture  of  all  times  and  nations. 

Nothing  which  could  add  to  the  thoroughness 
and  beauty  of  his  work  was  a  trouble  to  him,  no 
researches  which  could  help  to  his  knowledge," 
and  with  his  peculiar  assimilative  power,  amalga- 
mating in  himself  styles  as  opposite  as  the  Classic, 
the  Oriental  and  the  Gothic,  he  created  for  him- 
self a  method  in  which  the  romantic  feeling  of 
his  earlier  works  found  magnificent  expression. 
The  poetic  and  artistic  faculties,  as  inextricably 
united  in  him  as  the  religious  and  artistic  in  Fra 
Angelico,  attained  an  equal  degree  of  develop- 
ment. The  love  of  beauty  for  beauty's  sake  was 
such  as  to  prevent  perfection  of  line  ever  being 
sacrificed  to  expression,  while  on  the  other  hand 
the  claims  of  the  purely  ornamental  were  never 
allowed  to  exclude  those  of  poetic  thought.  It 
is  this  unique  union  of  the  highest  gifts  of  the 

^  To  take  only  a  few  examples:  ''The  Wine  of  Circe" 
commenced  in  1863  was  finished  in  1869;  ''The  Prioress's 
Tale"  was  worked  upon  at  intervals  from  1865  to  1898; 
"The  Mirror  of  Venus  "  occupied  Burne-Jones's  thoughts 
from  1867  to  1877.  The  conception  of  "The  Wheel  of 
Fortune"  belong-s  to  1871,  its  completion  to  1883;  "The 
Briar  Rose"  series,  and  "Arthur  in  Avalon  "  were  worked 
upon  for  twenty  years. 


CONCLUSION  165 

decorative  artist  with  those  of  the  imaginative 
poet  w^hich  constitutes  the  peculiar  excellence  of 
Burne-Jones's  art. 

That  the  genius  of  this  great  artist,  even  while 
engaged  in  producing  pictures  sufficient  to  have 
occupied  a  lifetime  and  to  have  assured  their 
creator's  fame,  was,  from  the  beginning  of  his 
career,  placed  also  at  the  service  of  the  decorative 
arts,  was  due  to  the  influence  of  W.  Morris  ;  and 
the  united  efforts  of  these  two  men  to  help  **to 
make  this  earth  a  beautiful  and  happy  place " 
were  successful  in  so  far  that  they  impressed 
their  noble  ideal  upon  their  generation,  raised  the 
national  standard  of  taste,  brought  new  life  and 
light  into  modern  manufactures,  and  originated 
a  movement  which  has  reunited  art  and  crafts- 
manship, and,  by  awakening  the  popular  desire 
for  beauty  in  daily  life,  has  changed  the  aspect  of 
modern  living  and  the  current  of  thought  regard- 
ing it.  As  to  Burne-Jones's  individual  achieve- 
ment and  the  influence  he  has  exercised  not  only 
in  England  and  America  but  on  the  Continent,  we 
are  still  too  near  to  him  to  be  able  adequately  to 
judge  of  its  immense  importance. 

It  has  been  seen  how,  undeterred  by  the  op- 
position which  greeted  his  earlier  works,  Burne- 
Jones  won  his  way  by  degrees  into  the  foremost 
ranks  of  fame.  Perhaps  none  of  his  honours 
were  so  valued  as  those  which  came  to  him  in 
1881  from  his  own  University,  when  the  degree  of 
D.C.L.  and  the  title  of  Honorary  Fellow  of  his 
old  college  were  conferred  upon  him.  In  1882 
he  was  invited  by  the  Committee  of  the  Inter- 


BURNE-JONES 


national  Exhibition  of  Contemporary  Art  to  repre- 
sent British  Art  in  Paris  in  company  with  Sir 
Frederic  Leighton.    The  Ellis  and  Graham  sales 
of  1884  and  1886  showed  the  value  his  work  had 
acquired  in  the  eyes  of  connoisseurs,  and  in  1885, 
the  year  of  his  election  to  Associateship  of  the 
Royal  Academy,  he  was  also  elected  President  of 
the  Birmingham  Society  of  Artists,  and  re-elected 
the  year  following.    In  1888  he  was  re-elected  a 
member  of  the  Water-colour  Society,  and  in  1889 
his  ^^King  Cophetua  "  was  awarded  a  first-class 
medal  at  the  Paris  Exhibition,  an  honour  which 
was  followed  by  the  bestowal  of  the  red  ribbon  of 
the  Legion  of  Honour.    The  exhibition  of  The 
Briar  Rose  "  at  Agnew's  in  1890  and  at  Toynbee 
Hall,  Whitechapel,  the  following  year,  proved 
how  the  tide  of  popularity  had  turned  towards 
him,  and  in  1892  fresh  foreign  honours  came  to 
him,  when  he  was  invited  to  exhibit  a  collection 
of  his  drawings  at  the  Societe  Nationale  des  Beaux- 
Arts,  of  which  he  was  made  an  Associate.  He 
was  also  made  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the 
Institute  of  France,  and  some  of  his  drawings 
have  found  a  place  in  the  Luxembourg,  for  which 
he  was  invited  to  paint  a  picture.    Again,  the 
Leyland  sale  of  1892  proved  the  appreciation  of 
his  countrymen  for  his  work,  and  the  exhibition 
of  his  collected  works  held  at  the  New  Gallery  in 
the  winter  of  1892-3  showed  beyond  a  doubt  the 
place  he  had  attained  in  contemporary  art.  In 
1893  he  was  made  an  Honorary  Member  of  the 
Munich  Academy  of  Arts.    In  1894  a  baronetcy 
was  bestowed  upon  him,  and  the  same  year  he 


CONCLUSION  167 

received  a  first-class  medal  at  the  Antwerp  Ex- 
hibition. In  1895  he  was  elected  a  Member  of 
the  Dresden  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  In  1896  a 
collection  of  his  drawings  and  studies  exhibited  at 
the  Fine  Art  Society  further  increased  the  fame  of 
his  fine  draughtsmanship,  and  in  1897  the  Gold 
Medal  of  the  Munich  Exhibition  was  awarded  to 
him  for  his  series  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon." 
Only  a  few  months  before  his  death,  in  May  1898, 
at  the  Ruston  sale,  *'The  Mirror  of  Venus," 
which  at  Mr.  Leyland's  sale  had  fetched  3,570 
guineas,  was  sold  for  the  still  higher  price  of 
5,450  guineas,  *'Le  Chant  d'Amour  "  realising 
3,200  guineas.  Thus  in  the  last  wxeks  of  his  life 
Burne-Jones  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
time  was  only  increasing  the  value  set  upon  his 
art.  This  was  still  more  conclusively  proved 
when,  after  his  death,  at  the  sale  which  took 
place  in  accordance  with  his  will  at  Christie's,  the 
sum  of  ^30,000  was  realised  by  the  remaining 
works." 

The  winter  following,  two  memorable  exhibitions 
were  held  at  the  New  Gallery  and  at  the  Burlington 
Fine  Arts  Club  of  the  master's  pictures,  drawings, 
and  studies. 

Encouraging  as  were  the  honours  life  laid  at 
his  feet,  Burne-Jones  was  too  great  a  man  to  be 
spoilt  by  popularity  and  success.  No  unworthy 
consideration  ever  for  an  instant  caused  him  to 
swerve  from  the  principle  he  had  laid  down  for 
himself  in  his  college  days  :  Our  work,  whatever 
it  be,  must  be  the  best  of  its  kind,  the  noblest  we 
can  offer." — **What  does   it  matter,   my  dear 


i68 


BURNE-JONES 


Scotus,"  he  once  said  to  W.  Bell  Scott,  a  propos 
of  the  Medaille  d'Honneur  which  Gustave  Moreau 
and  many  others  were  of  opinion  should  have 
been  awarded  to  his  ^^King-  Cophetua "  at  the 
Paris  Exhibition, — *^what  does  it  matter  whether 
they  give  me  a  medal  or  not,  if  one  can't  do  what 
one  tries  or  wishes  to  do?  and  I  can  only  come 
near  what  I  wish,  and  am  unhappy  in  conse- 
quence,"— and  that  was  ever  his  spirit ;  to  the  end 
he  felt  the  Himalayas  in  front  of  him  ;  equally 
undisturbed  by  praise  or  blame  he  worked  on,  his 
life,  like  those  of  the  heroes  he  loved  to  paint  and 
in  whose  familiar  company  he  lived,  a  spiritual 
pilgrimage  ;  his  quest,  like  theirs,  the  vision  of 
the  ideal. 

How  hard  he  worked  in  striving  after  this  ideal 
may  be  gathered  from  the  following  account  of 
his  daily  life  given  by  his  son:  He  was  down 
punctually  by  eight  o'clock  every  morning  and, 
after  breakfasting  and  seeing  to  such  letters 
as  required  his  personal  attention,  went  upstairs 
to  the  studio,  and  was  ready  to  start  work  by 
nine  o'clock,  and  in  his  studio  he  remained,  with 
the  exception  of  half  an  hour  for  lunch,  for  the 
rest  of  the  day,  and  this  was  his  day's  work 
always.  For  a  great  number  of  years  he  used  to 
work  after  dinner  in  the  evenings  as  well,  at 
cartoons  for  stained  glass  windows,  and  he  only 
gave  this  up  when  considerations  affecting  his 
eyesight  compelled  him  to  do  so.  .  .  .  He  could 
not  endure  the  notion  of  spending  a  day  without 
work,  and  he  never  spent  such  a  day.  He  rarely 
left  London.    When  he  did  it  was  only  to  go  to 


STUDY  OF  HANDS  AND  DRAPERY 


CONCLUSION  169 

his  house  at  Rottingdean,  where  another  studio 
awaited  him,  which  he  eagerly  sought  and  re- 
luctantly left."^ 

The  evolution  of  the  pictures,  the  amount  of 
underground  work"  which  went  to  the  making 
of  them,  can  be  followed  in  the  sketches  and 
drawings.  Mr.  Hollyer's  beautiful  reproductions 
of  a  great  number  of  these  are  as  valuable  for 
purposes  of  study  as  the  originals  themselves. 
In  them  is  found  the  secret  of  Burne-Jones's  com- 
pleteness, and  one  can  observe  both  the  selective 
instinct  which  guided  him  and  the  manner  in 
which  he — so  to  speak — took  the  terms  of  nature 
and  translated  them  into  his  own  language. 
There  too  can  be  seen  his  extraordinary  capacity 
for  taking  trouble."  The  first  stage  of  a  picture 
was,  of  course,  the  sketch,  the  rough  indication 
of  its  plan,  and,  this  being  settled,  studies  for  the 
figures  and  careful  drawings  of  the  heads,  hands, 
and  feet  were  drawn  from  life,  the  same  action 
being  studied  over  and  over  again  till  the  exact 
movement  wanted  had  been  definitely  fixed  upon. 
Then,  small  figures,  on  which  to  study  draperies 
and  light  and  shade,  were  modelled  in  wax  or 
clay,  and  the  various  objects  needed  for  the  picture 
were  constructed  under  his  supervision.  The 
usual  studio  properties"  did  not  content  him, 
and  he  devised  his  own  exquisite  models,  whether 
for  armour,  musical  instruments,  costumes,  or 
furniture,  thus  making  his  pictures  a  mine  of 

^  Magazine  of  Art,  1900.  "Notes  on  some  Unfinished 
Works  of  Sir  Edward  Rurne-Jones,  Bart."  By  Sir  Philip 
Burne-Jones,  Bart. 


I70  BURNE- JONES 

suggestion  for  every  form  of  applied  art.  The 
next  stage  was  the  execution  on  brown  paper, 
in  water-colour,  or  pastel,  or  both,  of  a  highly- 
finished  full-size  cartoon.  The  outlines  were  then 
traced  and  transferred  to  the  canvas  by  the  skilled 
assistants  Burne-Jones  had  trained  to  help  him  in 
these  matters,  and  filled  in  in  monochrome,  the 
surface  of  the  lightest  parts  only  being  prepared 
with  pure  flake  white  which  was  allowed  to  be- 
come absolutely  dry  before  the  work  was  pro- 
ceeded with.  Then  the  real  painting  began,  and 
each  part  as  it  was  taken  up,  was  carried  to  a 
high  degree  of  finish, — the  cartoon  and  studies 
being  used  to  work  from,  and  constant  reference 
being  also  made  to  the  living  model.  The  method 
can  be  well  observed  in  the  Venus  Concordia" 
and  other  unfinished  works  at  the  Garden  Studio. 
The  medium,  used  very  sparingly,  was  composed 
of  copal,  linseed  oil,  and  spike  oil,  and  no  colour 
the  permanence  of  which  was  at  all  doubtful, 
was  ever  employed  ;  in  fact,  nothing  which  could 
ensure  the  permanence  of  the  work  was  neglected, 
and  such  was  the  painter's  conscientiousness  of 
workmanship  that  if,  in  spite  of  all  his  care,  he 
found  himself  obliged  to  make  extensive  altera- 
tions in  a  picture  already  far  advanced,  he  pre- 
ferred the  labour  of  starting  afresh  on  a  new 
canvas  to  running  the  risk  of  the  correction  one 
day  becoming  visible  and  impairing  the  beauty  of 
his  work.  One  has  but  to  look  at  any  one  of  his 
pictures  to  realise  the  care  which  was  spent  on 
every  portion  of  their  surface  :  *M  love  to  treat 
my  pictures,"  he  once  said,   *^as  a  goldsmith 


CONCLUSION  171 

does  his  jewels.  I  should  like  every  inch  of  sur- 
face to  be  so  fine  that  if  all  were  buried  or  lost, 
all  but  a  scrap  from  one  of  them,  the  man  who 
found  it  might  say:  *  Whatever  this  may  have 
represented,  it  is  a  work  of  art,  beautiful  in  sur- 
face and  quality  and  colour.'  And  my  greatest 
reward  would  be  the  knowledge  that  after  ten 
years'  possession,  the  owner  of  any  picture  of 
mine,  who  had  looked  at  it  every  day,  had  found 
in  it  some  new  beauty  he  had  not  seen  before." 

Burne-Jones's  pictures  are  indeed  almost  as 
difficult  to  exhaust  as  Nature  herself ;  wherever 
the  eye  travels  it  rests  on  exquisite  form  ;  every 
blade  of  grass  seems  to  have  been  the  object  of 
loving  work,  and  the  familiar  wild  flowers  that 
spring  up  wherever  they  may  find  a  place,  the 
little  birds  that  sing  on  the  branches,  or  flutter 
round  the  gentle  beings  who  move  through  this 
enchanted  world,  the  tiny  pebbles  which  shine 
like  jewels  on  the  garden  path  of  Venus  Con- 
cordia "  or  on  the  ocean  floor  of  *^  The  Depths  of 
the  Sea,"  the  delicate  shells  which  glisten  on  the 
sand  of  the  remote  shore  where  the  Nereids  are 
arming  Perseus,  the  thorny  growth  of  the  briar 
through  all  the  length  of  its  coils,  are  painted 
with  the  same  tenderness  which  is  bestowed  on 
the  figures  themselves,  on  the  arrangement  of 
their  hair,  or  the  fall  of  their  draperies.  No  sur- 
face is  left  uninteresting, — whether  it  absorb  the 
light  or  reflect  it,  whether  it  be  plain  or  covered 
with  rich  ornament,  whether  its  beauty  be  its 
glowing  colour  or  the  reflection  in  its  polished 
surface  of  a  flower  or  a  woman's  foot,  there  is 


172  BURNE- JONES 

always  about  it  that  subtle  quality  which  pervades 
all  Burne-Jones's  work, — yet,  with  all  this  detail, 
never  is  the  breadth  of  effect  lost  sight  of. 

By  his  singleness  of  purpose,  his  conscientious 
method  of  work,  and  the  earnestness  with  which 
he  sought  to  express  his  own  thought  in  all  that 
he  did,  Burne-Jones  carried  on  the  Pre-Raphaelite 
tradition  ;  in  his  application  of  the  principles  of 
the  Brotherhood  to  a  totally  different  range  of 
subjects  —  personification  of  ideas,  rather  than 
presentation  of  facts — he  differs  from  the  original 
school.  His  art  is  more  closely  akin  to  Rossetti's 
than  to  that  of  any  other  painter  of  the  set,  but 
while  his  powers  of  draughtsmanship  and  sense 
of  decorative  design  exceed  those  of  Rossetti,  his 
mystic,  almost  ascetic,  nature  caused  him  to  sub- 
stitute a  more  immaterial  quality  for  the  fire  and 
passion  and  vigorous  luxuriousness  of  Rossetti's 
art. 

That  defects  can  be  noted  in  Burne-Jones's 
works  must  of  course  be  admitted ;  sometimes  the 
standard  of  proportion  chosen  is  an  arbitrarily 
elongated  one ;  sometimes  a  certain  hardness 
about  the  painting  of  flesh  gives  the  hands  and 
faces  the  appearance  of  inlaid  ivory  ;  sometimes, 
in  later  days,  the  intense  feeling  of  the  early  water- 
colours  and  their  7iaif  charm  is  replaced  by  a  less 
convincing  sentiment,  and  by  a  sort  of  formality 
and  mannerism  ;  sometimes,  in  fact,  it  is  apparent 
that  Burne-Jones  has  *^with  his  high  and  noble 
faculties  the  defects  of  those  qualities  " — but  it  is 
idle  to  find  fault  with  his  technique  because  it 
is  not  that  of  Franz  Hals,  Rubens,  Velasquez  or 


CONCLUSION  173 

Rembrandt.  His  aim  was  a  widely  different  one 
from  that  of  the  great  realists,  and  he  w^as  never 
a  great  master  of  the  brush  in  the  sense  in  which 
that  term  applies  to  them.  What  he  sought  was 
not  the  reproduction  of  the  glorious  sensuous 
beauty  of  material  life,  but  the  evocation  of  a 
mood,  the  transporting  of  the  spectator  far  from 
reality  into  a  realm  of  thought  which  is  to  the 
visible  world  what  the  astral  body  is  to  the 
physical  ;  it  is  a  mirage,  a  kind  of  transposition 
of  life  rather  than  life  itself."^  I  mean  by  a 
picture,"  he  would  say,  **a  beautiful  romantic 
dream  of  something  that  never  was,  never  will  be 
— in  a  land  no  one  can  define  or  remember,  only 
desire — and  the  forms  divinely  beautiful."  And 
from  this  point  of  view  Rossetti's  verdict  may  be 
unreservedly  accepted  : — **If,  as  I  hold,  the  noblest 
picture  is  a  painted  poem,  then  I  say  that  in  the 
whole  history  of  art  there  has  never  been  a  painter 
more  greatly  gifted  than  Burne-Jones  with  the 
highest  qualities  of  poetic  invention."  This  is  a 
standpoint  which  cannot  be  adopted  by  all,  but 
even  those  who  reject  it  must  admit  Burne-Jones's 
incontestably  fine  draughtsmanship  and  power  of 
design  :  For  composition,"  says  M.  de  la  Sizer- 
anne,  **if  that  be  restricted  to  the  adjustment  of 
lines  and  to  the  order  and  motion  of  the  outlines, 
there  is  perhaps  no  European  master  of  the 
present  day  who  could  equal  him."  There  is 
room  in  the  kingdom  of  art  for  the  painters  of  all 
schools,  for  those  to  whom  expression  is  all  in  all 
as  well  as  for  those  whose  appeal  is  to  the  sense 

^  Paul  Leprieur,  Gazette  des  Beaux- Arts,  1893. 


174  BUKNE- JONES 

of  vision  alone,  and  Verlaine's  admirable  definition 
— Uart^  mes  enfants^  c'est  d'etre  absolument  soi- 
meme  " — applies  equally  to  all.  Certainly  no  art 
has  ever  more  faithfully  mirrored  the  temperament 
from  which  it  sprang  than  that  of  Burne-Jones, 
and  none  but  a  superficial  observer  could  look 
upon  it  as  a  lifeless  imitation  of  the  painters  of  an 
earlier  age.  He  had  the  same  temper  of  soul 
which  belonged  to  the  Primitives  :  every  thought, 
every  symbol,  as  it  passed  the  threshold  of  his 
imagination,  struck  itself  into  form  ;  he  saw  life 
and  beauty  in  no  other  way  .  .  .  and  the  forms 
and  colours  of  the  real  world  were  in  their  essence 
only  so  many  symbols  that  he  employed  for  the 
expression  of  an  idea. "  It  was  his  own  impassioned 
and  vitalising  imagination,  his  worship  of  beauty 
in  the  smallest  as  well  as  the  greatest  works  of 
nature,  his  aim  of  expressing  always  the  eternal 
through  the  transient,  which  enabled  him  to  re- 
create for  himself  and  to  carry  to  ultimate  per- 
fection a  method  which  was  thought  to  have  had 
its  day. 

*Mf  I  could  travel  backwards,"  Burne-Jones 
once  told  a  friend,  I  think  my  heart's  desire 
would  take  me  to  Florence,  in  the  time  of  Botti- 
celli — and  it  is  as  though  one  from  that  beauty- 
loving  age  had  come  back,  and,  laden  with  dim 
memories  of  the  joyous  youth  of  the  world,  had 
gazed,  through  dreaming  Celtic  eyes,  on  modern 
life,  its  problems,  ideals,  and  unsatisfied  longings; 
the  Latin  sense  of  proportion  and  love  of  beautiful 
form  is  there,  with  the  Celtic  poetry  and  love  of 
ornament,  and,  above  all,  with  the  Celtic  revolt 


CONCLUSION  175 

from  fact."  To  this  Celtic-Italian,  beauty  is  not 
merely  the  joy  of  life, — it  is  also  a  spiritual  mystery ; 
and  he  invests  it  with  that  element  of  strangeness 
which  Bacon  recognised  as  essential  to  all  ex- 
cellent beauty,"  that  baffling  sense  of  the  unattain- 
able and  elusive  which  throws  a  veil  of  gentle 
melancholy  over  the  fairest  scenes.  It  has  some- 
times been  brought  against  Burne-Jones  as  a 
reproach,  that  he  abstracted  himself  too  much 
from  the  realities  of  modern  life.  This  abstraction 
is  more  apparent  than  real,  for  the  spirit  which 
imbues  every  one  of  his  pictures  shows  that 
although  he  ignored  in  them  the  outer  aspect  of 
modern  life,  it  was  because  his  desire  was — *^to 
see  above  it,  into  the  secret  of  the  modern  soul. 
All  the  turbulent  audacities  of  modern  thought, 
all  its  morbid  questionings,  all  its  ardent  thirst 
for  beauty,  love,  justice  and  truth,  all  its  proud 
Promethean  efforts  for  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
race,  all  these  find  their  echoes,  sonorous  or 
faint,  through  the  speaking  images  of  these 
ancient  myths  or  Christian  legends.  P^aith  of 
humanity  in  itself,  confidence  in  its  high  mission, 
in  its  ultimate  destiny  ...  a  sort  of  ideal  religion 
of  order,  duty,  progress  and  brotherhood,  a  dream 
of  a  better,  higher,  crowning  race  of  humankind, 
all  this  he  exalts  before  us  by  the  awakening  of 
the  noblest  qualities  of  the  human  soul."^ 

Burne-Jones's  life  and  work  were  admirably 
consistent.     His  character  was  in  keeping  with 

^  Revue  de  V Art  ancien  et  moderne,  1899.  "  Deux  ideal- 
istes :  Burne-Jones  et  Gustave  Moreau."  By  Lt^once 
B^nedite. 


176  BURNE- JONES 

the  noble  ideals  with  which  his  mind  was  always 
occupied.  To  him  all  things  were  ^*but  dim 
revelations  of  a  hidden  glory,"  and  the  sunshine 
of  his  golden  optimism  radiated  on  all  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact.  His  sincerity  and  nobility  of 
character,  his  charm  of  manner,  his  wit  and 
humour,  his  warmth  of  heart  and  generosity,  cap- 
tivated all  who  had  the  happiness  of  knowing 
him,i  and,  himself  the  best  of  friends — sympathetic 
with  that  understanding  "  which  Ruskin  said  he 
could  get  from  no  man  but  him — he  was  blessed 
with  lifelong  friendships.  He  had  the  qualities 
of  brain  and  heart  which  made  Lowell  pronounce 
him  a  great  man,  independently  of  his  work  as 
a  painter." — ^Mn  all  that  he  did  or  said,"  says 
one  of  his  friends,  there  was  the  simplicity  and 
directness  of  greatness,  moral  and  intellectual 
greatness"; — and  another : — I  know  nothing  quite 
equal  to  the  fineness  of  his  chivalry  as  a  man, 
any  more  than  I  know  anything  quite  equal  to  his 
colour  and  design  as  a  painter — in  painting  the 
love,  and  courage,  and  truth  of  knight-errantry, 
he  painted  his  own  character  into  his  pictures." 

^  A  very  charming  feature  of  Burne-Jones's  character 
was  his  love  and  understanding-  of  children.  There  is 
evidence  of  this  in  the  Letters  to  a  Child,"  published  in 
The  Strand  in  1891,  and  in  the  books  filled  with  drawings 
made  to  amuse  his  own  children  or  his  many  little  friends. 
Angela^ s  Book^  PhiVs  Booky  with  their  delightful  contents — 

Boy's  School,"  Girl's  School,"  "  Cat's  School,"  School 
for  Dragon  Babies,"  "  Hisstry  School,"  "  J ogruffy  School," 
"How  to  Draw  a  Baby  in  Six  Lessons,"  etc. — all  are  de- 
lightful in  their  quaint  humour  and  simple  fun.  One  little 
friend  was  favoured  with  comic  portraits  of  himself  etched 
on  two  pennies  ground  down  on  one  side. 


CONCLUSION  177 

It  was  a  character  of  the  type  described  by  Pater 
as  *  *  Diaphaneite  "  : — a  character  *  *  like  a  relic  from 
the  classical  age,  laid  open  by  accident  to  our 
alien  modern  atmosphere,"  and  showing-  the 
entire  transparency  of  nature  that  lets  through 
unconsciously  all  that  is  really  life-giving  in  the 
established  order  of  things."  A  radical  of  the 
radicals,  a  hot  Home-Ruler,  a  revolutionist  against 
the  social  anarchy  which  appeared  to  him  and  to 
William  Morris  as  the  result  of  the  capitalist 
system,  he  had  that  sympathetic  perception  of 
the  dominant  under-current  of  progress  "  which 
enabled  him  to  keep  to  the  end  the  enthusiasms  of 
his  youth.  He  longed  for  progress  in  every 
direction,  and,  like  his  Briar  Rose  knight,  would 
fain  have  been  the  one  to  smite  the  sleeping 
world  awake"  to  a  new  order  of  things.  He 
delighted,"  says  Mr.  Spielmann,  in  the  rebellious 
spirit  in  which  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  started.  '  I 
approve  of  rebellions,  and  if  the  Grosvenor  Gallery 
gets  fossilized,  I  hope  another  Grosvenor  will 
arise  and  cut  it  out.  I'm  a  born  rebel,  and  my 
politics  are  those  of  a  thousand  years  hence,  the 
politics  of  the  millennium,  and  therefore  of  no 
account.* " 

Lives  of  men  who  dream  are  not  lives  to  tell, 
are  they  ?  You  can  tell  a  life  of  men  who  have 
fought  and  won  and  been  beaten,  because  it  is 
clear  and  definite,  but  what  is  there  to  say  about 
a  poet  or  an  artist  ever?  To  those  who  can  see 
with  eyes  and  read  the  ineffable  it  may  be  clear 
enough."  These  were  the  poet-artist's  own  words, 
and  certainly  all  that  it  is  essential  to  know 

N 


178  BURNE-JONES 

about  him  can  best  be  learnt  by  the  study  of  his 
works.  Yet,  for  those  to  whom  his  name  has 
become  a  spell  wherewith  to  evoke  the  loveHest 
visions  of  glamour  and  romance,  there  must  always 
be  a  fascination  about  every  detail  of  a  life  which 
has  set  its  stamp  so  deeply  upon  the  culture  and 
spirit  of  its  time, — a  life  which  cannot  be  better 
summarised  than  by  the  beautiful  words  so  fittingly 
inscribed  on  a  wreath  of  red  roses  sent  as  a  last 
tribute  of  affection  : — 

*^Love,  that  led  thee  aUve  and  fed  thy  soul  with  sorrows 

and  joys  and  fears  ; 
Love,  that  sped  thee  alive  and  dead  to  fame's  fair  goal 

with  thy  deathless  peers  ; 
Love,  the  flame  of  thy  quenchless  name  with  light  that 

lightens  the  rayless  years. 


Astrophel.    A.  C.  Swinburne. 


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PRINCIPAL  SALES 


At  the  Ellis  sale  in  1884  "  Caritas  "  was  sold  for  ^^530,  "  Temperantia  " 
for  £640,  "  Fides  "  for  £577,  and  "  Spes  "  for  £6ig. 

At  the  W.  Graham  sale  in  1886  the  prices  realised  were  : — "Landscape" 
(i860),  40  guineas;  "King  Rent's  Honej'^moon,"  200  guineas;  "Fair 
Rosamond  and  Queen  Eleanor,"  75  guineas;  "  Zephyrus  and  Psyche," 
115  guineas;  "A  Lament,"  100  guineas;  "Princess  Sabra''  (pencil), 
40  guineas;  "The  Choristers,"  185  guineas;  "Cupid  and  Psyche,"  300 
guineas  ;  "  Chaucer's  Dream,"  180  guineas  ;  "  Green  Summer,"  500  guineas  ; 
"  Le  Chant  d'Amour  "  (first  version),  580  guineas  ;  "St.  Agnes,  St.  Barbara, 
and  St.  Dorothea,"  300  guineas;  "The  Mirror  of  Venus"  (small  version), 
780  guineas;  "The  King's  Wedding,"  155  guineas;  "St.  Cecilia,"  i8o 
guineas;  "  Danae  and  the  Brazen  Tower"  (small  version),  210  guineas; 
"The  Hesperides"  (1869),  350  guineas;  "Love  Disguised  as  Reason," 
700  guineas;  "Pygmalion"  (1871),  310  guineas;  "Medea,"  55  guineas; 
"  Sibylla  Tiburtina,"  40  guineas  ;  "  St.  George  "  (1877),  585  guineas  ;  "  An 
Angel,"  250  guineas  ;  "  The  Feast  of  Peleus,"  900  guineas  ;  "  The  Days  of 
Creation,"  1,650  guineas;  "  Laus  Veneris,"  2,550  guineas;  "  Le  Chant 
d'Amour"  (second  version),  3,150  guineas;  coloured  cartoon  for  "King 
Cophetua  and  the  Beggar-Maid,"  730  guineas. 

At  the  Ley  land  sale  in  1892  eleven  pictures  by  Bume-Jones  were  sold  : — 
"  The  Mirror  of  Venus"  (large  version),  3,400  guineas  ;  "  The  Beguiling  of 
Merlin,"  3,600  guineas;  "The  Seasons"  (four  pictures),  1,150  guineas; 
"Night"  and  "Day,"  1,350  guineas;  "Phyllis  and  Demophoon,"  810 
guineas;  "The  Wine  of  Circe,"  1,350  guineas;  "Cupid  and  Psyche" 
(1867),  900  guineas. 

At  the  Craven  sale  in  1895  "  The  Hesperides"  was  sold  for  2,560  guineas, 
"  Vesper  "  for  450  guineas,  "  Night  "  for  430  guineas,  and  the  "  Pygmalion  " 
series  for  3,500  guineas. 

At  the  Ruston  sale  in  May,  1898,  "  The  Mirror  of  Venus"  was  sold  for 
5i45o  guineas,  "  Le  Chant  d'Amour"  for  3,200  guineas,  "  The  Beguiling  of 
Merlin  "  for  3,780  guineas,  and  the  companion  pictures  of  "  Day  "  and 
"Night"  for  1,000  guineas. 

At  the  sale  of  remaining  works  (July  16th  and  18th,  1S98)  "  Love  and  the 
Pilgrim"  was  sold  for  5,500  guineas,  "The  Fall  of  Lucifer"  for  jCi,ooo, 
"Elijah  in  the  Wilderness"  for  950  guineas,  "The  Tree  of  Life"  for 
770  guineas,  a  pastel  drawing  of  "  The  Dream  of  Launcelot  "  for  680 
guineas,  and  a  pastel  design  for  tapestrj*,  "The  Departure  of  the  Knights," 
for  610  guineas.    The  whole  sum  realised  was  ;^a9,475  8j. 


X97 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BOOKS  AND  PRINCIPAL  ARTICLES 

Baldry  (Alfred  Lys).  ''The  Drawings  of  Sir  Edward 
Burne-Jones."    {Magazine  of  Art,  vol.  xix.,  1896.) 

Bayliss  (Sir  Wyke).  Five  Great  Painters  of  the  Victorian 
Era,    (London,  1902.) 

Bell  (Malcolm).  Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones :  A  Record  and 
Review,  (London,  first  edition,  1892  ;  fourth  edition, 
1898.)  "Some  Features  of  the  Art  of  Sir  Edward 
Burne-Jones."  (The  Studio,  vol.  xvi.,  1899.)  Sir  Edward 
Burne-Jones.    (Newnes'  Art  Library.) 

B^n^dite  (L^once).  "Deux  Id^alistes :  Burne-Jones  et 
Gustave  Moreau."  {Revue  de  V Art  ancien  et  moderne, 
Paris,  1899.) 

Binyon  (Laurence).  "Burne-Jones."  (Article  in  Encyclo- 
pcedia  Britannica.) 

Bryce  (M.  R.  L.).  "Edward  Burne-Jones:  His  Art  and 
Influence."    {Blackwood,  1893.) 

Burne-Jones  (Sir  Philip,  Bart.).  "Notes  on  some  Un- 
finished Works  of  Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones,  Bart." 
{Magazine  of  Art,  xxiv.,  1899.) 

Carr  (J.  Comyns).  Introduction  to  New  Gallery  Cata- 
logue, 1898-9.  (Exhibition  of  the  Works  of  Sir 
Edward  Burne-Jones,  Bart.) 

Cartwright  (Julia)  (Mrs.  Ady).  "Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones, 
Bart.  :  His  Life  and  Work."  {The  Art  Annual,  1894.) 
Preface  to  Fine  Art  Society  Catalogue,  1896.  (Exhi- 
bition of  Drawings  and  Studies  by  Sir  Edward  Burne- 

198 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  199 

Jones,  Bart.)  "  Burne-Jones."  {Gazette  des  Beaux- 
Arts^  1900.) 

Colvin  (Sidney).  Edward  Burne-Jones."  (The  Portfolio^ 
vol.  i.,  1870.) 

Destret^s  (Olivier  G.).  Les  Prdraphadlites.  Notes  sur  V Art 
Ddcoratif  et  la  Peinture  e7i  Angleterre.  (Dietrich  et 
Cie,  Bruxelles.    Fischbacher,  Paris.) 

Hueffer  (Ford  Madox).  ''Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones."  [The 
Contemporary  Review^  Aug-ust,  1898.) 

Jacobs  (Joseph).  "  Some  Recollections  of  Sir  Edward 
Burne-Jones."  {The  Ninetec7ith  Century  ^]2i\\\\2,vy^  1899.) 

Khnopff  (Fernand).  "  A  Tribute  from  Belgium.  In 
Memoriam,  Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones."  {Magazine  of 
Art,  xxii.,  1898.) 

Leprieur  (Paul).  "  Burne-Jones,  D^corateur  et  Orne- 
maniste."  {Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1892.)  "  La 
Lt^g-ende  de  Persee."   {Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1893.) 

Monkhouse  (W.  Cosmo).  British  Contemporary  Artists, 
(London  and  New  York,  1899.)  Introduction  to  Bur- 
lington Fine  Arts  Club  Catalogue,  1899. 

Ruskin.     The  Art  of  England.    (Lecture  II.) 

Rod  (Edouard).  "Les  Preraphat^lites  anglais."  {Gazette 
des  Beaux- A  rts,  1 887. ) 

Rathbone  (H.  S.).  "Perseus  and  Andromeda."  {Archi- 
tectural  Review,  viii.) 

Schleinitz  (O.  von).  Burnc-Joues  {K Hustle r-Monographien 
LV.)    (Bielefeld  und  Leipzig,  1901.) 

Seddon  (John  P.).  A'ifig  Rente's  Honeymoon  Cabinet, 
(London,  1898.) 

Sharp  (William).  "Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones."  {The  At- 
lantic Monthly,  i8gS.)  "  Edward  Burne-Jones."  {The 
Fortnightly  Review,  Aug.,  1898.) 


200  BURNE-JONES 

Sizeranne  (R.  de  la).  "  La  Briar  Rose."  {La  grande 
Revue y  1890.)  La  Peinture  anglaise  contemporaine. 
(Paris,  1895.)  A  Tribute  from  France."  {The  Maga- 
zine of  Arty  xxii.,  1898.)  In  Memoriam,  Sir  Edward 
Burne-Jones,  Bart."    {The  Artist ^  1898.) 

Slayter  (J.  A.).  ^' An  Ethical  Retrospect  of  the  Traditions 
and  Aims  of  Sir  E.  Burne-Jones."  {The  Architectural 
Review  J  vol.  vi.,  1899.) 

Spielmann  (M.  H.).  In  Memoriam,  Sir  E.  Burne-Jones, 
Bart."    {The  Magazine  of  Artj  vol.  xxii.,  1898.) 

Stephens  (F.  G.).  E.  Burne-Jones,  A.R.A."  {The  Portfolio, 
vol.  xvi.)  '^E.  Burne-Jones,  A.R.A.,  as  a  Decorative 
Artist."    {The  Portfolio y  vol.  xx.) 

Taylor  (Una  A.).  Burne-Jones  :  His  Ethics  and  Art." 
{The  Edinhicrgh  Review ^  January,  1899.) 

Vallance  (Aymer).  The  Decorative  Work  of  Sir  Edward 
Burne-Jones,  Bart."    {The  Easter  Art  Annual,  1900.) 

Ward  (T.  Humphry).        Burne-Jones."     {The  National 

Dictionary  of  Biography, ) 
Wilson  (H.).     *<The  Work  of  Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones, 

more  especially  in  Decoration  and  Desig"n."  {The 

Architectural  Review,  vol.  i.,  1897.) 
Wood  (T.    Martin).     Burne-Jones.     (Newnes'   series  of 

Drawings  by  great  masters.) 

REFERENCES  TO  THE  LIFE  AND  WORK  OF  SIR 
E.  BURNE-JONES  OCCUR  IN  THE  FOLLOW- 
ING BOOKS:— 

Dalziel  {The  Brothers).    (London,  1901.) 

Bate  (Percy).    The  English  Pre-Raphaelite  Painters  :  Their 

Associates  and  Successors.    (London,  1899.) 
Chesneau  (Ernest).    La  Peinture  anglaise,    (Paris,  1882.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  201 

Forsyth  (P.  T.).  Religion  in  Recent  Art  (London,  1901.) 
Letters  of  D.  G.  Rossetti  to  William  Allingham.    Edited  by 

Georg-e  Birkbeck  Hill,  D.C.L.,  ll.d.,  etc.  (London, 

1897.) 

Mackail  (J.  W.).    The  Life  of  William  Morris.  (London, 

1899.) 

Mourey  (Gabriel).     Passd  le  Ddtroit.     La  vie  et  V art  a 

Londres.    (Paris,  1895.) 
Muther  (R.).     The  History  of  Modern  Painting.  (London, 

1896.) 

Quilter  (Harry).    Preferences  in  Art.    (London,  1892.) 

Rossetti  (W.  M.).  Da?ite  Gabriel  Rossetti:  His  Family 
Letters.  With  a  memoir  by  W.  M.  Rossetti.  (London, 
1895.)  Rossetti  Papers^  1862-70.  A  compilation  by 
W.  M.  Rossetti.    (London,  1903.) 

Scott  (  William  Bell),  Autobiographical  Notes  of  the  Life  of. 
(London,  1892.) 

Vallance  (Aymer).     Willia?n  Morris.    (London,  1897.) 

Wood  (Esther).  Dante  Rossetti  and  the  Pre-Raphaelite 
Movement.    (London,  1894.) 

ARTICLES  ON  THE  WORK  OF  SIR  E.  BURNE- 
JONES  OCCUR  IN  THE  FOLLOWING  PERI- 
ODICALS :— 

The  Athenceinn,    The  Architect,    The   Artist,   The  Art 
Journal,  The  Magazine  of  Art,  'The  Review  of  Reviews, 
The  Saturday  Reviciv,  Scribners  Magazine,  The  Sunday 
Magazine,  The  Strand,  The  Studio,  The  Windsor,  etc. 


A  memorial  of  the  life  of  Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones  is  in 
preparation  by  Lady  Burne-Jones. 


202 


BURNE-JONES 


REPRODUCTIONS  OF  PICTURES,  ETC. 

Photographic  reproductions  of  most  of  the  works  of  Sir 
E.  Burne-Jones  are  published  by  F.  HoUyer,  9,  Pembroke 
Square,  London,  W.  A  few  early  works  have  been  photo- 
graphed only  by  J.  Caswall  Smith,  309,  Oxford  Street,  W., 
and  the  Autotype  Company,  74,  New  Oxford  Street,  W.C. 
Photog^raphs  can  also  be  obtained  at  Birmingham  of  some 
of  the  works  in  the  collection.  ''The  Depths  of  the  Sea" 
is  published  by  Messrs.  Braun,  Paris;  "  Laus  Veneris"  by 
the  Berlin  Photographic  Company;  "The  Briar  Rose"  by 
Messrs.  Agnew;  "King  Cophetua  and  the  Beggar-Maid" 
by  Messrs.  P.  and  D.  Colnaghi. 

A  limited  edition  of  a  collection  of  eighty-four  pictures 
and  two  portraits,^  entitled  The  Work  of  E.  Burne-Jones^ 
was  published  by  the  Berlin  Photographic  Company  in 
1901. 

1  The  portraits  are  those  painted  in  1870  by  G.  F.  Watts,  r.a.,  and  in 
1898  by  Sir  Philip  Burne-Jones,  Bart.  The  originals  of  both  belong  to 
Lady  Burne-Jones. 


INDEX 


Adoration  of  the  Magi, 
The,"  57,  142-4,  I79»  186, 
193 

ALneid^  Illustrations  for  the, 

116,  189 
Esthetic  movement,  The,  43 
Allingham,  William,  21,  25, 

35 

Altar  of  Hymen,  The,"  91, 
184 

*' Alys  la  belle  Pelerine,"  47, 
187 

Angeli  Laudantes  "  and 
"Angeli  Ministrantes,"  112, 
196 

"  Annunciation,  The  "  (Bodley 

Triptych),  57,  121,  179 
 (Nativity  Triptych),  64, 

121,  180 
 (early  water-colour),  63, 

121,  179 
 (The  Flower  of  God), 

63,  64,  121,  180 
 (Lord  Carlisle's),  120-1, 

184 

 (St.  Peter's,  Vere Street), 

129,  186 

Arthur  in  Avalon,"  151-2, 
185 

''Ascension,  The"  (St.  Philip's 
Birmingham),  158-9 
Astrologia,"  74,  180 

"Aurora,"  148,  187 


**Bath  of  Venus,  The,"  130, 
184 

"Beguiling  of  Merlin,  The," 

loi,  182 
Biblia  Imiocentitini^  by  J.  W. 

Mackail,  150,  191 
Birket  Foster,  57,  75,  136 
"  Blessed  Uamozel,  The,"  19, 

179 

Bodley,  G.  F.,  R.A.,  54,  57 

"Briar  Rose,  The,"  136-41, 

166,  182,  183 
Browning,  Robert,  16,  17,  31, 

96 

"  Buondelmonte,  The  Wedding 

of,"  46-7,  187 
Burne-Jones,  Sir  Edward — 

—  parentage,  birth,  and  early 
years,  5-9 

—  entrance  into  Exeter  Col- 
lege, 9 

—  friendship  with  Morris,  9 

—  uncertainty  as  to  vocation, 
16 

—  influence  of  The  Germ  and 
of  Pre-Raphaelite  pictures, 
18-19 

—  first  journey  abroad,  20 

—  decides  to  be  a  painter,  20 

—  introduction  to  Rossetti, 
22-25 

—  settles  in  London,  26 

—  Rossetti's  guidance,  27-30 


203 


BURNE-JONES 


204 

Burne-Jones,  Sir  Edward — 

—  first  commissions,  32-5 

—  pen-and-ink  work,  35,  36, 
44,  46,  47,  57,  187 

—  moves  to  Red  Lion  Square, 
37 

—  paints  cabinet  for  Morris, 
38,41 

—  joins  in  painting  Oxford 
Union  frescoes,  41-3 

—  influence  of  G.  F.  Watts,  45 

—  joins  Hogarth  Club,  45 

—  first  journey  to  Italy,  45-6 

—  early  water-colours,  47-9, 
58-62,67-75,77-81,179-80 

—  first  patrons,  49 

—  marriage,  49 

—  Red  House  frescoes,  52 

—  works  for  the  firm,  54-7, 

82-  3,  99,  112,  114,  144, 
147-8,  156-60 

—  connection  with  Dalziel,  62 

—  second  visit  to  Italy,  63-4 

—  connection  with  Royal 
Water-colour  Society,  73- 
81 

—  method  of  work,  82,  84, 
163-4,  168-71 

—  drawings  for  illustrations, 

83-  6,  90-1,  116,  149-50 

—  move  to  "The  Grange,"  94 

—  works  exhibited  at  Dudley 
Gallery,  95-9 

—  Grosvenor  Gallery  exhibi- 
tions, 1877,  1878,  99-112 

—  oil-paintings,  1878-90,  1 17- 

156 

—  connection  with  Royal  Aca- 
demy, 127-8 

—  designs  for  tapestry,  144, 
147-8,  153 


Burne-Jones,  Sir  Edward — 

—  opening  of  New  Gallery,  130 

—  designs  for  mosaics,  145-7 

—  designs  for  metalwork, 
153-4 

—  works  in  gesso,  153-4 

—  portraits,  1 54-6 

—  illness  and  death,  160 

—  method  of  work,  82,  84, 
163-4,  168-71 

—  his  influence,  165 

—  honours,  medals,  etc.,  165-6 

—  sales  of  work,  166-7,  197 

—  his  character,  167,  175-7 

—  characteristics  of  his  art, 
171-5 

—  his  love  of  children,  176 

—  portraits  painted  of  him,  202 

—  quoted,  7,8,  ii,  12,  13,  15, 
18,  19,  20,  21,  22-5,  28,  29, 
30,  31,  36,  38,  45,  53,  94, 
98,  no,  122,  129,  145,  150, 
152,  153,  154,  160,  167-8 

Burne-Jones,   Lady,   49,  55, 

155,  161,  185,  201 
Burne-Jones,  Sir  Philip,quoted, 

97,  168-9 
Burton,  Sir  Frederick,  81 
Byzantine  art,  121,  145 

''Caritas,"  104,  181 

Cartoons  for  glass,  32-5,  54, 
82-3,  112,  156-60,  195-6 
Chant  d' Amour,  Le,"  75, 
105,  108-10,  167,  180,  181 

Chaucer,  16-17,  38,  40,  60,  61 

"  Chaucer's  Dream,"  75,  180, 
181 

Chaucer^  the  Kelmscott,  62, 

85,  114,  149-50,  19^ 
"Childe  Rolande,"  57,  188 


INDEX 


205 


Christ  Church  windows,  34, 
196 

Cinderella,"  68,  78,  180 
"Clara  von  Bork,"  48,  179 

Clerk  Saunders,"  58,  179 
Clifford,  Edward,  quoted,  56, 

59,  67-8,  69 
Colvin,  Sidney,  quoted,  70, 

91-3 

Comyns  Carr,  J.,  30,  45,  in, 
130 

*' Comyns   Carr,   Portrait  of 

Philip,"  155,  185 
Crane,  Walter,  86 
"Creation,  The,"  66,  188 
"Crucifixion,      The"  (St. 

Philip's,  Birmingham),  157- 

8,  196 

"Cupid  and  Psyche,"  84-6, 

181,  188 
"Cupid  and  Psyche"  frieze. 

The,  86-9,  192 
"Cupid's  Forge,"  60,  74,  179 
"Cupid's    Hunting  Fields," 

153,  185,  194 

Dalziel  Brothers,  62-3,  65,  73 
"  Danaii    and    the  Brazen 

Tower,"  134-6,  182,  184 
"  David  instructing  Solomon," 

156 

"Day,"  105-6,  181 
"Depths  of  the  Sea,  The," 

128,  171,  186 
"Dies  Domini,"  123,  185 
Dining-room,    Victoria  and 
Albert    Museum,  Decora- 
tion of,  82-3,  192 
Dixon,  the  late  Canon,  14 
"Dream  of  Launcelot,  The," 
148,  187,  193 


"Drew,  Portrait  of  Dorothy," 
155,  186 

Earthly  Paradise^  The^  illus- 
trations to,  83-6,  118-20, 
149,  188 

"Entombment,  The,"  153, 
192 

"  Ezekiel  and  the  Boiling 
Pot,"  66,  188 

Faery  Queen  ^  The^  113 

"  Fair  Rosamond  and  Queen 

Eleanor,"  67,  180 
"Fatima,"  68,  180 
Faulkner,  C.  J.,  13 
"Feast  of  Peleus,  The,"  124- 

6,  182 
"Fides,"  104,  iSi 
"  Flamma  Vestalis,"  128,  186, 

187 

"Floddcn  Field,"  153,  192 
"Flower   Book,  The,"  154, 
190 

Flower  of  God,  The,"  63, 

64,  121,  180 
"Fortune,    Fame,  Oblivion, 

and  Love,"  125,  183 
Frescoes  (Oxford  Union),  41- 

3»  191 

—  (Red  House),  52,  191 
Fulford,  William,  14,  25 

"Garden  of  Pan,  The,"  129, 
186 

"Gaskell,  Portrait  of  Miss," 

155,  186 
George  Eliot,  112 
Gerin,  The,  18-20 
"Girl  and  Goldfish,"  62,  179 
"  Going  to  the  Battle,"  47,  187 


206 


"Golden  Stairs,  The,"  122, 
184 

'*Good  Shepherd,  The,"  32, 
195 

Good  Words ^  Illustrations  for, 

65,  188 
Graham,  W.,  49,  197 
Graham  Piano,  The,  116,  192 
"  Green  Summer,"  74,  180 
Grosvenor  Gallery,  The,  99, 

127,  130 

Halle,  Charles,  130 
Hand  and  Sotil^  19 

Heart  of  the  Rose,  The," 

115,  186 
"Hesperides,  The,"  95,  97, 

153,  182 

Hill  of  Venus ^  The,  Illustra- 
tions for,  84,  85,  90-1,  188 
Hogarth  Club,  The,  45,  73 
Holman  Hunt,  62,  iii 
"Hours,  The,"  126,  183 

Italy,  visits  to,  45-6,  63-4,  95 

Kelmscott    Press,    The,  85, 

149-50,  1 90- 1 
"King  and  Shepherd,"  130, 

186 

King  Arthur  (Lyceum  play), 

154,  194 

"  King    Cophetua    and  the 

Beggar-Maid,"  1-2,  126-7, 

168,  185 
"  King  Mark  preventing  Iseult 

from   killing  herself^"  67, 

179 

"  King   Rene's  Honeymoon 

Cabinet,"  55-6,  179 
"Kings'  Daughters,"  47,  187 


BURNE-JONES 

"  Last  Judgment,  The,"  112, 
123,  129,  196 


"Laus  Veneris,"  105-7,  153, 
184 

"  Legend  of  St.  George,  The," 

75-7,  181 
' '  Love  among  the  Ruins,"  95- 

7,  147^182,  186 
"Love  disguised  as  Reason," 

80,  182 

"Love  leading  the  Pilgrim," 

1 15-16,  187,  189 
"  Love's  Wayfaring,"  152,  184 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  134,  176 
"Luna,"  105-6,  184 
Lyndhurst  windows,  83,  195 
Lyttelton  monument,  153,  194 

Mack  ail.  Life  of  W.  Morris, 
by  J.  W.,  quoted,  9,  12-20, 

25,  31,  38,  54-5,  149 
Mackail,  J.  W.,  alluded  to, 

156 

Mackail,  Mrs.,  153,  155,  186 
"Madness  of  Sir  Tristram, 

The,"  67 
Madox  Brown,  F.,  5,  31,  54, 

56,  67,  74,  82,  83 
"  Maids  of  Elfen-Mere,  The," 

21 

Magazine^    The   Oxford  and 

Cambridge,  20,  25 
"Marriage  of  Sir  Tristram, 

The,"  67,  179 
"  Masque   of  Cupid,  The," 

113,  189 
Meinhold,  47 

"Merciful  Knight,  The,"  67, 

69-72,  73.  74,  180 
"  Merlin  and  Nimue,"  42,  58, 

loi,  179,  191 


*' Merlin,  Beguiling  of,''  lOi, 
182 

''Mill,  The,"  123,  183 
Mirror  of  Venus,  The,"  loi, 
134,  167,  181,  184  i 
Morgan  le  Fay,"  68-9,  180  j 

' '  Morning  of  the  Resurrection,  i 
The,"  128-9,  186 

Morris,   Marshall,  Faulkner, 
and  Co.,  32,  53 

Morris,  William,  10,  11-21, 
25,  29,  30-2,  34,  35,  37,  38, 
40,  41-3,  44,  45,  50-7,  74, 
77,  81-2,  83-6,  91,  95,  99,  , 
105,  III,  112-13,  114,  116,  I 
144,  i49-50>  160,  161,  165, 
177 

Mo7'te     Arthii7\  The^  21,  41, 

58,  loi,  147-8,  150 
Mosaics  for  American  church 

in  Rome,  128-9,  193 
Murray,  C.  Fairfax,  56,  75, 


"  Nativity  "  and  Entomb- 
ment," 153,  192 

*' Nativity,  The"  (windows), 
157-8,  160,  196 

—  (Torquay),  130,  186 

—  (Triptych),  64-5,  121,  180 
New  Gallery,  opening  of,  130 
"Night,"  105-6,  181 

Norse  window  (Newport),  157, 
196 

"Norton,  Portrait  of  Miss," 
155,  1^6 

Omar  Khayyatn^  96,  189 
Oxford  Union  Frescoes,  41-3, 
191 


b:A.  207 

**  Paderewski,    Portrait  of," 

155,  190 
'*Pan  and  Psyche,"  86,  105, 

no,  182 
"  Pandora,"  153,  194 
''Passing   of  Venus,  The," 

153,  194 

"  Perseus  and  the  Graiae,"  105, 

107,  130-1,  184,  185,  194 
"Perseus  and  the  Nereids," 

131,  171 

"  Perseus"  series,  The,  130-4, 
184,  185 

"Phyllis  and  Demophoon," 
81,  182,  185 

"  Pilgrim  at  the  Gate  of  Idle- 
ness, The,"  115,  184,  189 

Powell,  Messrs.  (Whitefriars 
Glass  Factory),  32,  44,  47, 
51 

Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood, 
The,  5,  19,  43.  S3,  III,  172 

"Prioress's  Tale,  The,"  38- 
41,  150,  164,  181,  191 

"  Pygmalion  and  the  Image," 
84,  91,  118-20,  181,  188 

Quilter,  II.,  30 

Red  House,  50-3,  81 

"  Ring  given  to  Venus,  The," 

84,  91,  1S8 
"  Romaunt  of  the  Rose,  The," 

1 14-16,  189 
"  Rosamond,"  73,  180 
Rossetti,  D.  G.,  5,  18-20,  21- 

32,  35-8,  41-3.  45.  49-51. 

56,  60,  67,  74,  79-80,  83, 

99,  III,  121,  129,  162,  172 
Rossetti,  W.  M.,  19,  43,  48,  54 
Rottingdean,  94,  160,  161 


BURNE-JONES 


208 

Royal  Academy,  127-8 
Ruskin,  8,  13,  14,  15,  18,  19, 
25»  32,  57,  74,  84,  111-12, 
126,  155,  162,  163,  176 

"  St.  Catherine  "  (Christ  Church 

window),  112,  196 
^'St.  Cecilia"  (Christ  Church 

window),  112,  196 
''St.     Frideswide"  (Christ 

Church  window),  34,  47, 195 
'*St.  George,"  64,  186 

St.  George  and  the  Dragon," 

75-7,  167,  181,  188 

Sea-Nymph,"  127,  185 
''Seasons,  The,"  127,  181,  192 
''Sibylla  Delphica,"  128,  185 
"  Sidonia  von  Bork,"  48,  179 
*'Sire  Degrevaunt,"  52,  187, 

190,  191 
Sizeranne,  R.  de  la,  1-2,  108- 

10,  122 

Son^  of  Songs,  The,  illustra- 
tions to,  83,  192 
"Spes,"  104,  183 
Spenser,  113 

"Sponsa  de  Libano,"  144-5, 
186 

Stanmore    Hall  Tapestries, 

147-8,  193 
"Star  of  Bethlehem,  The," 

142-3,  144,  186,  193 
Swinburne,  A.  C,  51,  57,  100, 

108,  III,  116,  178 

Tannhdtiser,  90 


"  Temperantia,"  104,  183 
Tennyson,  14,  18,  97-8,  loi 
"  Theophilus  and  the  Angel," 
77,  180 

"  Tower  of  Brass,  The,"  134- 

6,  182,  184 
Triptych  ("Adoration"),  57, 

121,  179 
Triptych  ("Nativity"),  64-6, 

121,  180 
7roy,  The  Tale  of,  12K 

"  Venus  Concordia,"  125,  170, 

171,  184 
"Venus  Discordia,"  125,  184 
"  Vespertina  Quies,"  147,  186 
"Viridisof  Milan,"  59,  179 
Vyner  Memorial  (Oxford),  83, 

112,  196 

Water-colour    Society,  The 

Royal,  73,  79,  81 
Watts,  R.A.,  G.  F.,  5,45,  152 
"Waxen  Image, The,"  36,  187 
Webb,  PhiHp,  50,  55,  82,  86, 

114 

"Wheel  of  Fortune,"  125, 

152,  183,  185 
"Wine  of  Circe,  The,"  79,  180 
"Wise  and  Foolish  Virgins, 

The,"  47,  187 
"Wood-Nymph,"  127,  186 

"Zephyrus  and  Psyche,"  85, 
181 


PLYMOUTH  :    WILLIAM  BRENDON  AND  SON 
PRINTERS 


GETTY  RESEARCH  INSTITUTE 


3  3125  01409  3476 


